Moving On
by ToxicSpeka
Summary: You know, sometimes, it's just really hard to move on when you have nothing to move on to.
1. Coming to Terms

Amy had come to terms with something that had been her only goal in life, and had understood what it now meant for her and upcoming days, weeks, years. She now accepted that Sonic was not into her. He loved her, sure, but as a friend only. She had known that from the beginning, but she always had that little glimmer of hope that if she held out for just a bit longer, if she pushed him onto more and more dates, that he would fall for her. The only thing she'd get in return would be the often smile and wave goodbye, the rare hugs, and the few walks home with her. She would even kiss him; on the cheek, mind you, but he always took it as a kind, loving gesture than one of actual love.

She had grown up now, matured, and stopped cutting her quills short, the way Sonic told her he liked. Amy made a plan.

She was going to stop that, all of that; The sudden hugs and tackles, the chases, the dates, everything. Once she woke up, looking at her clock and then calendar, she realized just how much time she now had on her hands. She got up and took a long shower.

As the water ran through her quills, she thought deeply. Amy never really got to learn much about anyone else from all that time fruitlessly chasing Sonic, and chaos knows she had enough useless and useful information on him to fill a library. If it only hosted one book, because man, he did not do a lot of things on his free time.

Amy turned off the water and palmed her quills dry, stepping out to grab two towels and put them on. Since Sonic was also around Tails a lot, she knew much about him, too. Not a ton, but enough that was comfortable. She made a mental plan to talk to him tomorrow, because there were three others before him. Knuckles, Rouge, and lastly, Shadow.

She and Knuckles got along well, but that was often when Sonic was separated from them and their main goal was to get him back. She hardly talked to Rouge, and didn't know anything about her other than she was a master thief that also worked for G.U.N, like Shadow. Shadow was an enigma of himself. She knew slightly more about Shadow, but all she did know only made her more confused the more she thought about it.

Shadow had a tragic past that makes him broody often and dwelling on the past. He also worked for GUN, but also Robotnik if the time came for it, mainly because he was somewhat related to him. Though, Shadow did say that he rather not associate himself with Eggman if he had the choice, he did happily agree to give him a nice beating when they needed. Shadow also hung out with Rouge on his spare time, but most of his time he spent alone when not working.

Amy sighed and opened her closet. She looked at the five sets of the same dress grabbed them all, walking over to her trash can. She needed to start anew. The pink hedgehog hovered their, arms outstretched with her dresses barely hanging in her grip over the can. Finally, she caved and pulled them back to her chest, plucking one of the garments from the pile and tossing the rest. She wasn't entirely ready to start fresh.

She went back over to her closet and hung the dress back up towards the back, grabbing a simple tank top and shorts to head out in. Amy needed to make a few phone calls.

Xx

Amy found herself talking to Rouge and Shadow over the phone for upwards of an hour. At first she only called to see if they had a free day, and they did, but Rouge was over at Shadow's house and he could hear them talking. So, randomly, he would add little quips as small jokes or comments until he was flat out involved in the conversation.

She smiled to herself as she hung up, knowing what she was going to do today.

Shadow told he would go to the mall with them, but there was a catch, and he didn't say what. Rouge invited her to Shadow's house afterwards for a movie, which he didn't actually agree on but Rouge didn't seem to care about his opinion.

She stood outside the mall in question, rocking back and forth. She mainly asked to go because she didn't have many other clothes, but just random pick-and-match clothes consisting of the same jeans or shorts and about ten shirts.

The mall was huge, consisting of mostly clothing shops, but there was a food court that looked awful, a jewelry store Amy knew Rouge would go into, and some random stores with assortments of everything. The floor was a glossy white tile and the walls a fake wood paneling, and the air smelled oddly sweet. Mobians and humans alike trotted around, laughing and giggling with friends or significant others. Many just alone. Some took the escalator, which they slowed to deter people from using them, but few seemed to want to leave the bottom floor.

Now that she had more time, she would probably turn into a mall zombie, wandering by herself, as the only person she ever went to the mall with was Sonic after she begged and dragged him through. It came to the point where she would dump her bags on him so he wouldn't run when she turned around, because he wasn't that rude.

"Daydreaming, Rose?" a tenor voice came, and she whirled around, hammer summoned and raised above her head.

When she realized it was only Shadow, looking somewhat tired or defeated, she pulled her hammer away and let it disappear in a puff of smoke. "I'm so sorry, Shadow. Force of habit..." She offered, and he shrugged.

"Rouge flew ahead while you were out of it. She's in there." He set a hand on her back and ushered her through the door, point up to the bat who dashed into a store right away.

The contact was new and strange but welcomed. Sonic rarely lead her anywhere, or even touched her other than a hug. Shadow's hand was different, too. He had a gentle touch, just enough for her to know he was there and telling her to move forward. His claws were sharper than she thought, just barely poking the space between her back quills.

"Are you okay?" Shadow looked at her and she briskly nodded.

"Y-yeah! I'm okay. I'm just a bit... out of it, you know? I don't know what to do or expect. I haven't hung out with you or Rouge in like, ever." Amy rubbed the back of her neck, and Shadow looked away.

He walked over and took the stairs, two at a time, until he got up to the store Rouge flew into. Amy was right behind him, but had to walk the stairs normally ashe her legs weren't as long as Shadow's. He tossed his head to the store, which was for dress-type clothing, and turned to leave.

A few things ran through her head there.

Should I tell him to stay?

Should I follow him?

Should I take him in with Rouge?

Amy shook her head and went in. The bell dinged slightly above her, and she looked up to look at it.

"Amy! You made it!" Rouge suddenly hugged her and she gasped, hugging the bat back.

"I was here already, but Shadow said you got too excited and flew in without noticing me." She chuckled, looking around to the many dresses and dress tops. They all looked so fancy.

"Sorry, honey. I'm not used to shopping with girls other than ones from work, and they mostly want to get in and get out." She ran to a rack and pulled Amy along, "And did Shadow send you up here? Such a gentleman!"

They shopped for at least two hours, pulling out dress after dress for Amy to try. Rouge grabbed one for herself, an open back with low cut V neck. It hugged her hips nicely and flowed along her legs, and was a pleasant dark purple shade. Rouge even did a small dance in it from excitement.

Amy found a dress that was a lime green and strapless, snug around her stomach and hips. It was elastic around the chest, and, to add a little touch, had red roses wrapping around the stomach. The lowest the garment stretched was down to her knees loosely, allowing her to move around freely, as she spun a bit before telling Rouge she loved it.

They took them off and nearly ran to the counter, where Shadow was standing, facing away from and scaring the clerk with how silent he had been. Rouge set their dresses on the counter, but before she could start, Shadow turned and paid immediately, terrifying the clerk further. Once that was done, he looked at them, then silently left.

"What was that?" Rouge mumbled, but Amy could only offer a shrug. She had next to no clue what Shadow was thinking no matter the time or day.

"Are you not going to buy shoes as well?" Shadow called over his shoulder, and at the mention of shoes, they grabbed their bags and rushed to the nearest shoe store.

Rouge found black wedges (after trying and failing to wear the stilettos she was determined she could walk in) that perfectly matched her dress and Amy picked out a nice pair of white sneakers with pink polka dots. They shopped for a bit longer, picking out and discussing which shoes just did not look like they would go with anything, before going to the counter with about three boxes each.

Shadow was there again, this time holding a bag with shoes over his wrist, facing the door and ignoring the clerk hovering their hand just above his shoulder, trying to get his attention without calling or touching him. Once Amy and Rouge got close, he spun and paid for them, nearly shoving Rouge out of the way to do so.

"What is this?" Amy huffed, not sure if she should be upset or not, but the transaction was completed before they could complain any further.

After about thirty more minutes in another shop for regular clothes, which Shadow paid for again, they followed him out and down the stairs. He ran outside with their bags and came back shortly after, making a beeline for the food court. Shadow looked over his shoulder at them and smirked.

"Since I paid for your clothes, make it up to me by buying me lunch?" he asked sweetly, and, oddly enough, the girls listed and sat down with him.

When someone came around to ask what they wanted, Shadow slammed the paper menu onto the cheap table, jabbing his clawed finger into the middle of the section labeled 'Desserts.' His face split into an eerie grin.

"All."

Xx

The trio left successfully broke, Shadow grinning devilishly to himself as he was stuffed to the bring with terribly unhealthy junk food that he reluctantly shared with the girls. Amy found herself smiling a bit as they walked to Shadow's car, thinking about the day they had, and also the fact that Shadow had a car and she had no clue.

"How long did you have a car, Shadow?" She asked, and his smug grin dropped a bit to an impassive look.

"Years. Have you not noticed?" He looked at her strangely as the piled in, then looked ahead as he began to pull out the parking space.

"Yeah, no, I haven't. Spent most of my time chasing a certain blue hedgehog that didn't like me in the first place, remember?" She said, and silenced stretched on until it was awkward.

"...Good off you. Did not see what you saw in him."

"Shadow! That's a bit rude, he's your friend, too!" Rouge slapped his shoulder, and Amy feared the car with swerve, but it stayed straight. She actually didn't know where they were driving.

"Hardly." Was all he said, then looked into the rear view mirror, right at Amy. "I forgot to ask if you were still interested in the movies."

The pink hedgehog flushed slightly and looked at her knees. She thought that part was a joke, but she did want to hang out with them more. So, she agreed.

Shadow's house was massive. Amy had no idea why she thought he lived in a cave or something, but just the thought that Shadow basically lived in a mansion was hard to fathom. It was fancy as well, with a large plush L couch and a fireplace, too, that wasn't lit. The floor was all hardwood with rugs under the furniture, including the coffee table. The walls were painted beige in the living room, but from her quick look in the hallway, the walls were blue. They, somehow, matched Shadow's personality.

It looked like a house a snooty rich family would live in, not Shadow. Shadow was...Shadow. He wasn't bad. He wasn't mean.

Speaking of, he excused himself and stepped a few feet away. Shadow answered his phone with not 'hello,' but with 'What do you want?'

"He's kinda blunt, isn't he?" She asked, and Rouge waved her hand at her.

"A bit, but that's just how Shadow is. He's used to people talking to him directly, not politely. Anyway, do you want a horror, mystery, or comedy?" She held up three boxes, and Amy decided on mystery. It had a red circle on the cover.

Shadow came back just as Rouge was putting up the other disks, sitting on the direct right of Amy. He leaned back and huffed.

"That was Sonic, by the way. He told me he had been calling around because he hadn't seen you all day, Rose, and was worried because you did not answer your phone."

At that, she checked it. Oddly enough she had gotten at least twenty calls and messages from Sonic alone. She hastily excused herself and stepped into the hallway, going halfway up the wooden stairs to sit down on them. Amy called Sonic, dreading when he answered.

Amy! I've been looking for you all day! When you didn't show up to breakfast with s like you always do, we got worried. Where were you?"

She swallowed. "Sorry. I skipped breakfast to hang out with Rouge and Shadow at the mall. Do you know Shad--?" He cut her off.

"Were you there to buy another dress for a date? I'm not gonna go. I'm too busy, you know that, Ames."

The pink hedgehog tilted her head back until she was flat out lying on the stairs. It was weirdly not uncomfortable, but by no means would she want to sleep on them. "No. I wasn't. I was just buying clothes and shoes with them, then ate a ton of junk food with Shad--" He cut her off again, but instead of listening, she ripped the phone away from her ear and hung up.

Amy sat there for a few seconds longer, turning her phone on silent. Just as she did so, Sonic called again. It was going to be hard to move on if he expected her to just be the same as she always had. The pink hedgie stood and meandered to the living room, where Shadow and Rouge were standing, looking like they were heading somewhere else.

"Shadz said the viewing room is better for mysteries, so let's go girly!" The bat grabbed her hand and rushed off while Shadow lagged behind.

She knew the place like the back of her hand from visiting and sleeping over so often, which wasn't saying much, because she wore gloves nearly 24/7 and only knew five rooms: Living, kitchen, bathroom, and one of the guest rooms. Rouge did find the viewing room easily enough and brought Amy in with her, looking around in awe.

It wasn't very large, but it was silent. Their footsteps, even on fluffy foam carpeting, echoed the walls. The seats had two levels as the room dipped down, long enough to be called couches. A giant screen sat in the middle of the far wall, taking up the height but not length of the wall. With speakers on either side, the length was taken care of, and there was a small laptop plugged up to the speakers.

Amy sat on the far left and Rouge the far right, both still looking around. "Wow." Amy breathed, and Rouge nodded.

"I don't use it often, so it may be cold." The door creaked open slightly before being pushed the rest of the way, Shadow coming in backwards while holding two bowls of popcorn. He walked to the front couch and stepped on a button on the floor, opening a panel so a simple black table lifted from the floor and set the snack on. he gave Rouge the disk they planned on watching, then turned to Amy.

"Do you want a separate bowl, or anything to drink?" he tilted his head and lowered his eyes. Amy swallowed. Did Shadow always look so alluring? Maybe it was just because he was a hedgehog, or that his eyes were red. Something like that, yeah.

"U-um, I c-can share the bowl with you, if that's okay? And if you don't mind, I would like a drink, thank you."

Shadow nodded and left.

"Ooh, were you blushing?" Rouge cooed over her wing, sitting up from putting in the movie. She wiggled to the side to get closer to the laptop and open it.

"N-No! Was not!" Amy retorted, but the door opened again and she shut her mouth right away. Shadow came in with a large glass of clear soda and ice and set it on the table, on top of a coaster, mind you. Amy found herself snorting, then tried to play it off by coughing.

"That's fine, I'm picky. I like things clean."

"Don't tell me he put a coaster down!" Rouge cried out, not even bothering to stifle her laughter. Amy looked at Shadow, expecting a sneer, but it didn't come. He smirked playfully and chuckled under his breath, and the pink hedgehog slowly joined in.

The movie was finally playing and Shadow sat, right in the middle between the girls. Rouge didn't mind and took her bowl of popcorn and unceremoniously shoved a handful into her mouth. It started playing right away.


	2. Shadow Can't Words Good

Halfway in the movie, Amy noticed her drink was now empty, and she was still craving popcorn, but Shadow was now holding the bowl in his lap and didn't seem to be keen on letting go anytime soon. It wasn't even like he was eating any at the time, he was simply holding the bowl, staring intently at the screen. It was a good movie, after all, with killing that wasn't seen but was fast and painless.

The hedgie breathed in and reached over, taking a small handful and yanking her hand away before she lingered. Shadow noticed the movement and glanced at her, but due to the lights being off, she could only see half of his face from the light of the screen.

Shadow was right. What had she seen in Sonic? He would have made some sly comment about her being nervous just then.

Shadow looked back at the screen but set the popcorn on the table in front of her. Another character was killed, but as it happened, they all reacted. Rouge glared and banged her fist on the seat, Shadow sharply leaned forward, and Amy gasped and tried to not let herself cry. The girls looked at Shadow for any sign that he wanted to stop the movie, and he sat back, breathing slightly faster.

"Fucking bastard. Who votes to kill a girl?" He hissed, then sighed.

"He keeps acting good, but I don't think it." Amy hesitantly touched Shadow's hand, and he relaxed at the contact.

"Same here. And someone's not voting, too. The number shouldn't be that off." Rouge rubbed his back, and then he was fine and back to his normal self.

The movie only got more sad and mobid but even more puzzling as it went on, but Shadow didn't act as badly as he did the first time. Amy did end up eating more popcorn when she got confused, then offered the bowl to Shadow, where he grabbed a handful for himself. Rouge was just about finished with hers already.

The bat kicked up her feet and rested them on the arm of the couch and turned, laying against Shadow's shoulder. Amy stared at them for a few seconds, wondering if it was worth it, then leaned on Shadow's opposite. He was so warm. He also didn't seem to care at all that they were touching him. The movie was starting to close with only three people left, a pregnant lady, the child, and the man who had been lying in the first place.

He immediately voted for the girl, and out of fear, she stepped off the platform. The pregnant lady jerked forward to grab her and pull her back, but both were killed. Amy felt Shadow tense, and understood why. He was upset merely because she died, not because it reminded him of someone.

Not soon after, the movie ended, and Shadow relaxed. Right as he did, he noticed the sudden pressure on his sides and oddly high level of warmth around him.

"When did you two get like this?" He grunted, and both girls quickly got off him. He patted down his fur then turned off the credits, plunging the room back into silence. Slowly, the lights came back on, and they would see perfectly.

"Shadow~! You're only fun when you're distracted." Rouge pouted, and he rolled his eyes at her, but not in a mean way.

"That was an interesting but totally rude movie. I'm glad I got to watch it with you two." Amy spoke up. She hadn't spent much time just to have fun, now that she finally did. All her days, her motto was 'Wherever Sonic goes, I go!', but now, even thinking it, she felt wrong. It was nice to spend time with a different crowd.

"Aw, no problem, Amy. It was a blast getting to hang with you today. And, that dress you got? Fabulous." Rouge leaned over Shadow's lap and gave her a short hug, ignoring Shadow's huff of 'personal space'.

Amy stood and brushed off the seat of her pants out of habit, then bent to grab the now empty bowls and cup. Not that she actually knew where the kitchen was, but there was an attempt.

"I... feel the same way." Shadow said quietly. He stood up right after, taking the dishes from her and beginning to leave. "And I will be taking these."

The bat looked at Amy. "That's the closest you're gonna get to Shadow saying he had a good time." She winked, then gave the room a quick glance over again then followed Shadow out.

The pink hedgehog was right behind her. It was late afternoon now, and checking her phone, she had gotten a few more texts and calls from Sonic, a couple from Tails, and a single text from Knuckles that said Sonic was bothering him because of her. She replied.

"I'm sorry. I've been hanging out with Shadow and Rouge all day, and he's blowing up my phone. Do you have time to hang out too, sometime?"

She turned the vibration on and found them in the living room, hauling Rouge's bags in.

"Are you living here?" Amy joked, and Shadow threw up his hands in exasperation.

Rouge cut him off before he could get a word in. "Nah, but I might as well be! Look at the size of this place! But, really, I have to stay the night because we've been called in for tomorrow. Shadow can still drop you off, though." Rouge grabbed some of her things and headed into the hall, presumably up the stairs.

"Can you, if that's not a bother?" Amy finally looked up at Shadow, pinching her hands together.

"I can." Shadow turned and opened the door, and Amy squeaked at the suddenness. She went into the hall and called out a goodbye to Rouge, so the bat called one back slightly louder. Amy smiled and turned on her heel, nearly skipping over to the door to waltz her way out, brushing past Shadow's chest on accident. She shuddered at the contact, but if he felt or noticed, he said nothing.

The car ride was mostly quiet. Other than the rustling of the bags in the trunk, the traffic around them, and the soft-playing radio, no one spoke. Amy stared out the window at the darkening sky.

"Thank you, again, for inviting me over. I was really upset today, and you two helped me feel at least a little bit better." She had replied to Knuckles saying he was free whenever, but forgot to turn the vibration off after. Sonic was spamming her with messages again.

"You're welcome...I frequently go through upsetting moods, and I don't wish them upon you." Amy noticed his thumb rubbing at the rubber of the steering wheel, his eyes focused on the road but his mind early trying to come up with the rest of the sentence. "But, judging by all the noise I've been hearing from your pocket, it seems he's not ready to accept the new Rose."

"You noticed, huh?" She took her phone from her pocket and finally checked his messages. Almost all of them asking where she was, why he couldn't find her, why she missed things she didn't agree on coming to, and why she would talk to Knuckles but not him. She closed it all out without responding. "I'm sorry if it was distracting."

"That's alright, Rose. Frankly...It's...refreshing to look at you under a new light, in new clothes, with a new goal." he rubbed the wheel again and grit his teeth, then pulled at his seat belt. "Don't take this wrong, but you were... very annoying when you were chasing Sonic. We could tell he wasn't into you like the way you wanted, but we didn't want to break your heart and tell you. I'm looking," he stopped again

Amy set a hand on his right, still on his lap. Shadow relaxed some. "It's difficult." he admitted, so Amy urged him on. "I'm looking," he repeated, paused, then growled. "forward to meeting the real Amy Rose."

It was hard to make out what he said, as he was growling and ducking his head, but Amy did and lifted his hand and pressed a kiss to the back of it. "I am too, Shadow."

That time, something new happened, and Amy looked up just in time to see Shadow's muzzle and ears flush and him make a distraught face before returning to a passive frown. He lifted his hand and shook it, but she just laughed it off. Shadow probably had to get used to her version of affection.

"W-we're here, Rose." He stuttered, stepping out the car and going around to open her door for her. She thanked him and went to her door, unlocking it and propping it open. Amy helped bring in her smaller bags of perfume and shoes and dress, while Shadow took the largest bags with no issue and took them straight up to her room to set on the floor.

"Thanks again, Shadow." Amy called, but just before he left, stood in front of him and hugged him. Shadow was stiff but warm and muscular, which would explain how strong he was. Slowly, he lifted his hand and awkwardly pat down the top of her quills, so they pulled away fast. That was probably the closest she had ever gotten to Shadow, and as he began to leave again, she started wondering about the next time they would hang out again. She really needed to show Rouge her favourite jewelry shop.

It took her a while to put up all of her new items and clothes, and as she changed for bed, she fished her phone and a balled up receipt from her pants pocket. The receipt had all the desserts Shadow inhaled at the horrible food court, and she couldn't help but laugh and took a picture of it.

She finally checked her messages, then breathed in deeply before hitting the call button. The phone barely got to ring when Sonic answered.

"Amy."

"Sonic," She said right back. "I don't know why you're acting like this all of the sudden."

"Me? You're the one avoiding everybody." Sonic snapped, and she grabbed a fistful of the sheets below her. She hadn't even taken off her bra or shirt yet.

"Avoiding everybody by telling everyone I was spending the day with friends? How exactly is that avoiding?"

"Because you already made plans with us! You always do!"

"I didn't--!" She stopped mid-sentence to collect her thoughts. "I didn't make plans with anyone other than Rouge and Shadow. You can't just expect me to show up to breakfast and lunch every single day."

"And you ignored me, too. You talked to Knuckles…" Sonic sounded like he was either desperate or pouting, and Amy didn't feel like dealing with it.

"Is that was this is about? Because I didn't chase after you for one day? Because I realized you didn't love me and I didn't need to waste my time anymore? I talked to Knuckles because I want to get to know someone else other than you, Sonic."

"W-who said I didn't lo--?"

The pink hedgie hung up and slammed her phone onto the table, then picked it up to check for cracks just to carefully set it down onto the charging station. No. She was not going to hear that. Sonic was lying. Sonic didn't love her.

It somehow took twice as long to get the rest of her clothes off to wash her face and change into her nightwear. Her bed felt cold and lonely.

Maybe going on that hike with Knuckles would clear her mind. That's what she needed; a good, solitary trip to Angel Island.


	3. That was Awkward

Amy looked at the ground, whistling to herself. She needed to ask Tails if he could drop her off on Angel Island, but that meant getting past Sonic. Taking in a huff of air, she raised her hand and swiftly knocked, holding her breath. A voice called for her to hold on a few seconds, and the door opened to Sonic grinning at her. She let go of the breath and smiled back.

"Ames! Coming over for breakfast? It's my turn and I'm making omelettes!" He opened his arms and hugged her, so she gave him a quick, gentle hug back. He stepped back a bit confused but still smiling broadly. "Weird enough, Knux isn't coming. What's happened to your dress? Did it rip?"

"Y-yeah, I actually came by to ask if Tails could drop me off at Angel island, not stay for breakfast. I'm sorry, I promise, next time? And...n-no, I don't really want to wear that anymore." Amy tried to smile to lighten the mood, but Sonic's grin quickly dropped into a somewhat sad expression.

"Oh."

The welcome mat seemed much more interesting all of the sudden. Sonic turned to get his brother while Amy invited herself in, closing the door softly behind her. It was much different from when she would slam into it bodily or with her hammer if it was locked, which meant most of her time afterwards was either helping set the door back onto its hinges or helping pay for another.

"Man, I wasn't the most normal girl back then, was I?" She asked herself, then looked herself over as some sort of distraction. This time she wore a black short sleeve shirt and tan shorts, along with some brown boots. Perfect for hiking!

Finally, she checked her phone. Knuckles was ready any time she showed. Amy had text Tails beforehand that she needed his help and his plane, and he agreed with no problems other than she needed to show up to use it.

"Hey Amy!" She was hugged from behind, so she turned to return it properly. "You look so different! It's nice."

"Hi Tails! Thank you." Amy let him go and he waved for her to follow him, and as she did, she saw something out the corner of her eye.

It was Sonic, standing in an adjacent hallway. He was watching them with lowered eyelids, a dull expression plastered onto his face. "Have fun." He said, but it was with no emotion.

"I'll try...?" Amy shuddered, looking away before he made her feel any worse. She could feel his eyes on her back anyway, burning holes into her new outfit. She even ditched her old white headband to let her quills flow more naturally.

Tails didn't seem to hear the interraction and piled into the small hanger, helping Amy up into her seat first before flying up to the pilot and sitting down. "Why're you heading to Angel island anyway?"

"O-oh, I told Knuckles I would explore the island with him. To learn more about the Ehidna tribe, you know?" She tilted her head as she fastened herself in place hoping Tails wouldn't freak out like Sonic did.

"Really? That sounds so cool! Can I come with you all next time so I can see too?" Tails' namesakes twirled with excitement and the plane started, pulling out the hanger and onto the short runway.

"I'll be sure to ask Knuckles!" Amy reached up to pat his shoulder and he tilted his head back to smile at her. After mere seconds on the runway, the souped-up plane sped off and into the air, turning to make a beeline for the floating island.

She looked down and watched the house become smaller and smaller, then froze and snapped her head back up when she saw a blue shape watching the plane leave.

The ride was quiet. Tails was a silent pilot, which was nice. Amy didn't have much to say, and Tails didn't have the need to fill the empty air with awkward small talk. It also gave her a chance to think without being interrupted.

She didn't exactly know why Sonic was acting so weird around and towards her now. Yeah, she now missed two breakfasts in a row, and on the second she was dragging Tails along with her, but he was going to head back home after dropping her off. She still tried to text and call him to have normal conversations, but they would always gravitate back to why she wasn't around. Amy had spent _e_ _nough_ time around Sonic for almost all of her life, so she knew it was time for a break.

And, at the door, Sonic hugged her first when normally she would crush him with an overly powerful hug. When she just hugged him gently, it was if his mind was reeling and shutting down.

Everyone, so far, commented about liking her new style of dress. Rouge and Shadow did, and on the way to Sonic's house, Vanilla and Cream (and Cheese) were pleasantly surprised to see Amy in something other than that some old red dress. Tails liked it, too, but Sonic was the first to look disturbed by it.

"Tails?" the pink hedgehog spoke up, her voice a bit quiet and distant. She looked through the glass down to the sea below.

"Yep?" Tails didn't turn around, but did nod to show she got his attention.

"Is it okay-- I mean... Am I being too different? Does it feel like I'm... not your friend anymore?" She was sure she was going to cry, but fought it off.

"What!? No! You'll aways be my friend, Amy!" He finally turned to look at her, confident and proud before turning back around. "You will _always_ be my friend. Why wouldn't you be?"

She closed her eyes. "I spent all of yesterday with Shadow and Rouge, and now I'm going to spend today with Knuckles. Does it feel like I'm avoiding you and Sonic? I-I don't mean to."

"It's totally fine to spend time with your friends, Amy. I mean, it's a bit different now that you're not around all the time, but I'm sure Shadow, Rouge, and now Knuckles are all glad you're spending time with them willingly. It's just been a day, and now it's gonna be two, without you. I'm sure we'll survive." The kit smiled warmly, but she couldn't see it.

Amy felt it, though, and relaxed. If Tails was okay with her being a bit different, then why wasn't Sonic...?

"If you look out to your left, you'll see a floating island and a big bright red Tachyglossidae waving at us!" Tails spoke into his hand, making him sound muffled like an actual pilot's microphone.

Amy giggled and waved down at Knuckles, and he dropped his arms and stepped back to the dark patch of grass Tails always landed on. The plane lowered, touched down, and slid to a stop.

Both Tails and Amy jumped out to greet their friend, Tails giving him a high-five and Knuckles ruffling his head fur. Amy hugged the echidna gently and he returned it, waving Tails goodbye as he took off towards his plane. It started up again, rolled off, and ascended and slowly disappeared into the horizon.

"So, Amy, are you ready?" Knuckles clapped her on the back and she flinched a bit, coughing slightly but smiling.

"Sure! Where to first?" She tried to hit him back, but he was rock solid and barely reacted other than laughing at her attempt.

He didn't answer her and walked off in a seemingly random direction, so Amy followed blindly. The grass was very healthy and resilient, as their footsteps didn't seem to affect it. Flowers of all colours sprouted in random bushes or small patches close to the ground, and soon, the plants grew dense and close together as they neared the altar.

"Do you ever pick or plant the flowers here?" She asked, squating down to look closely at a small patch of mushrooms near a tree.

"I don't really do either. I'm mostly up here, by myself, so I don't need or want to pick them. Plus the Master Emerald does all the planting here." He shrugged, lowering his eyelids a bit at the 'by myself' part. He stopped to let her inspect the spores longer.

"Oh, I see. It must be a bit lonely up here..." Amy stood and went right back to his side. "I can visit more often now, if you want. Even Tails said he wanted to come up here soon."

Knuckles briefly smiled, but it faded nearly as soon as it showed. The altar came into view, in the same state it had been for years. Stone bleached white from constant exposure to the sun, two rock rings around the two large platforms raising the emerald from the ground. Large broken pillars still stood tall from whatever they previously used to hold up, the only ones still fine were the eight that would hold the chaos emerald, if they were there.

"From the le--"

"Every time I come here, I'm always amazed by how breathtaking this place is..." Amy accidentally cut him off, going up to nearest pillar and trailing her hand over the stacked, weathered stones. They were melded together somehow, but, from being exposed to the elments, were now smooth instead of rough as they were when they were first built.

"Are... you? I don't know what it was supposed to look like." The guardian sighed, looking around him. "It's difficult. I'm basically the only echidna alive that knows _something_ about my tribe."

"What about Tikal? And all the other echidnas in the world?"

"Tikal's spirit rests in the Master Emerald now. I can talk to her, but she's not... officially here. And all the other echidnas either don't know or don't care about their heritage." Knuckles shook his head and looked off towards the left. "But, it's fine, Amy."

The pink hedgie felt a bit bad for him, but didn't pry. He continued his sentence from earlier, telling her what was of the direct left of the altar. It was apparently the Echinda bathing grounds, but he hadn't visited there in a while.

The trip was much longer than she expected, but they both didn't mind. There was a surpdising number of animals living on the island, ranging from mice to birds, along with a ton of insects Knuckles kept swatting away from his face. Amy giggled each time he accidentally slapped his cheek in a blind fury of swings, but eventually he gave up and resorted to bearing through their tiny attacks to his face and arms.

"Oh, wait," Amy stopped them and crouched, pointing to a small, wet mass on the ground. "Aww, it's a baby bun. I think the mom had to run while she was having it."

The echinda locked his fingers behind his head, not sure what to do or say. Amy brushed off the wet kit and picked it up, going around the area while Knuckles followed behind her. Soon, she found the mother huddled in a nook of a tree with three other babies nursing from her. Amy carefully set the kit close to the nook to not scare the rabbit and slowly backed away, watching the mother drag it into the den and curl around it.

"Wow," Knuckles sighed. "You really are kind..." Amy went to brush the compliment off, but Knuckles did so for her. "But can we get to the bathing grounds now?"

xox

 _kinda filler, sorry_. _next is all nature and I suck at nature so bare with me_. also this is way off schedule, lol

Past me: _I'm gonna have a nice scene all about nature and trees and stuff it's gonna be so pretty!_

Future me: _Fuck_

ps anyone have a clue why Sonic's acting like a creepy af stalker? ;)


	4. Bruised

"...And that's basically all I know about the island. There's probably a lot more, but that's all I've found so far." Knuckles concluded, pulling back from the edge of the mountain to look over at Amy instead.

The pink hedgie was speechless, not at all bothered by the sweat sticking her bangs to her forehead anymore. It was much cooler up on the highest mountain, Mt. Thunder, overlooking the entire island. It was so different from up top, everything that looked big now tiny, and everything tiny nearly invisible. On the ground, it was like the island never ended, but now, it was as if there wasn't enough space.

"Look! There's Marble Garden!" She suddenly yelped, pointing out to the northwest. "And Angel Zone!"

"It is." Knuckles sighed, smirking at the hyper hedgehog.

She pointed out the other places they visted, including the echidna ruins, Hydrocity, and Mushroom Hill. She soon ran out of breath, and he looked at her.

"I would calm down. There's not a lot of oxygen up here." He warned, but it seemed to be too late, as she lowered to her knees.

"Thanks for... telling me that... when I'm _out_ of... breath." She chuckled airily, still panting a bit too hard for his liking.

Without asking, he swiftly picked her up and held her to his chest, hurrying down the mountain urgently but carefully. Amy flushed badly at being so close to him, feeling his chest against her cheek and his tense stomach on her hip. The echidna looked at her but figured the flush was because of the lack of oxygen, so he dismissed it and continued on. It took them a good half hour to get up, but Knuckles knew a shortcut, and launched himself into the air. Amy would have screamed had she had any air to do so, but paused, waiting for the _splat_ that was sure to come.

It didn't. There was no 'splat,' there was just the weird sound of wind whipping past them. Knuckles was gliding, with difficulty, as he was holding her, down the side of the mountain and was approaching the ground rather fast. Not like it wasn't cool, but the cool factor was thrown out the window as soon as she realized they would crash down right in the middle of an empty field.

"KNUCKLES!" Amy cried out, but the echidna didn't flinch.

"Hold on!" The ground grew closer and closer, but instead of both of them crashing into the ground, the hedgehog noticed something a bit too low on her back and looked down.

Knuckles was planted face first into the dirt, holding her up so she was a foot away from the same fate as he was. Except, from the way he was holding her, one hand was on her back and the other right smack dab on her rear. Amy held back a scream and hurried to stand up, helping him stand as well and using her glove to rub dirt away from his face and eyes.

"Mmh," He grunted "Are you alright? I haven't glided with cargo in so long, I'm sorry."

"T-That's fine, I'm just glad we got down in one piece! Are _you_ okay?" Amy pulled her hand back and Knuckles finally opened his eyes, blinking a few times to make sure his face was dirt-free.

"Yeah, I will be. Hey, um, Amy?" He looked at his feet. "Thank you for spending time with me."

The hedgehog grinned and leaned forward, kissing his cheek. "No problem! Maybe next time we could explore another place, like Sandopolis?" Tails's plane could be seen in the distance, pulling up to the island. Amy stepped back to glance at her phone; the kit was right on time.

"M-Maybe!" his face almost matched his fur "A-And keep what I said about Rouge a secret! A secret!" With that, he ran off, looking akin to a cherry red tomato sprinting into the forest.

"What was that about?" Tails called over the sound of his engine, the plane now at a full stop on the grass.

"Oh, nothing!" Amy called right back.

On the ride back, Amy babbled on and on to the kit about what she saw. She started with how the Altar looked, then all the plants she saw, then the Bathing Grounds and Tribal Housing and Rituals and everything she could remember. Tails was glad she was excited, but she ended up talking way too fast to fully but understood.

"Amy, please! I know it was exciting, but at least let me _hear_ it!" He laughed, and she smiled sheepishly and retold a few things she spoke too quickly about.

The conversation ended minutes before Tails landed, leaving them late in the day. The sun had reached it's peak and started to sink in the sky, making it glow a briliant, bloody orange as the night grew on. It was a breaktaking sight, so Amy quickly took out her phone to capture it. It reminded her of Shadow and his eyes, so she sent it to him right away.

"Hey, Tails, is it okay if I stay the night?" She turned to the fox, but he was already at the door, waiting for her to follow.

The hedgehog took off after him and they walked into the house to the smell of dinner still cooking. Sonic stood in the kitchen, faced away from them as hunched over the stove.

"Sonic! We're back!" Tails grinned and his brother whirled around, still sporting a spatula and an apron that ironically read "Kiss the Cook" with the word 'kiss' crossed out.

"Tails! Amy! Hi! I made dinner!" He sounded _way_ too excited, but the pink hedgehog smiled and greeted him back politely.

Sonic spun back around to quickly finish up what he was doing, making three plates of burgers with fries and setting them onto their stark wooden table. "Y-You came back too fast, I didn't have time to set up." He smiled nervously.

"Too fast? But isn't everything you do 'fast?'" Tails joked, but instead of getting a laugh back, Sonic sent him a suppressed glare and seethed "Not good." through his teeth.

The kit frowned as he pulled his seat back, sitting down in front of his plate. Sonic rushed to the other side of the table and pulled out Amy's seat just as she was doing so herself, nearly making her slam to the ground for the second time that day had Sonic not caught her.

"O-oh oops! I'm so sorry, I-- You probably want drinks, right?" With an unanswered question, he ran back into the kitchen and was seen freaking out through the small window.

"...Is... Did Sonic act weird when I was gone?"

"Not like this." Tails shrugged. "I know he kept trying to call Rouge and Shadow, but for some reason that didn't answer."

"Yeah, because they're on a mission, and they turn their phones off when they are." Amy looked at her plate, frowning when she noticed her fries were... odd, to say the least.

They were cut nicely, but the main issue was that they had ketchup on them, which she hated. That, and, the ketchup was poured in the shape of a heart.

Tomatoes she could do, ketchup was a big No with a capital N. Amy asked Tails for a few napkins and he gave them to her with a concerned look, glancing over to the kitchen once a lot of clutter was heard. Seconds later, Sonic came bursting into the dining room balancing a total of seven glasses in his arms and on his head, setting them all on the table in a hurry.

"So sorry but I forgot to ask what you _wanted_ to drink and-- Oh," He noticed what Amy was doing to her fries and lowered his ears. "Do... you...?"

"Sonic, you know I don't like ketchup." She replied lightly, not thinking too much of it, and reaching for the cup of ice tea out of the seven. Tails shrugged and grabbed a random one of his own.

"Chaos, how could I _forget?_ " He hissed at himself, hands flying up to grip at his quills. "Gosh, I'm so, so sorry, Amy. I-- I've been messing up so much recently and--" He stuttered too much to continue and decided to sit down instead.

Amy brought up idle topics and Tails happily joined in on them, but Sonic would stay eerily quiet, send a hidden death glare at Tails, or talk a bit too loudly and fumble over his words. At first, it was weird, but then it got awkward fast, and the pink hedgie wanted to leave but knew there was no time to get to her house before dark. Plus, the food was good, and she was halfway done with it, so she couldn't just waste the other half.

What paused the awkward conversation was her phone dinging loudly in her pocket, catching her off guard. Amy fished it out and saw it was a response from Shadow, telling her that the picture was very pretty, but not as much as her.

"Aww," She giggled, then shook her head and shoved it back into her pocket wothout responding. "Tails, you know that Shadow's a sap for romance? I saw _so_ many romance movie boxes in his house."

The kit's namesakes perked up and lightly spun. " _Really_? Shadow doesn't look like the romantic type! We should buy and send him flowers. How about _roses?_ " Tails wiggled his eyebrows at her in response to his terrible joke.

Amy broke out laughing, but it was cut short almost instantly from a pointed growl coming from Sonic's end.

That was it. Amy picked her napkin from her lap, dabbed her mouth clean, and abruptly stood. The chair cried out in protest at the sudden movement, but Amy did nothing else other than slap the napkin onto the table. "Thank you for your hospitality, but I'll be going home now."

"B-but I though you were going to stay the night, Amy?" Tails stood and went to her side, tears already forming in his baby-blue eyes. The pink hedgie smiled sadly.

"I... was, but something's come up, and I have to get home now." She glanced at the window, but it was already dark. "I'll be fine!" She bent and kissed his cheek.

Tails held his hand over it as she briskly walked away, but right as she attempted to open the door, Sonic was roght behind her and grabbed her wrist.

"Amy, wait--"

"Let me go." She tried to break free, but Sonic tightened his grip to the point where she knew it would leave a bruise.

"Not until you listen to--"

" _Let me_ _go._ " She hissed, deep and threatening, a trick she never though she had to use. Sonic quickly did so and she hurried out the door, running a few paces away until she was out of sight and pulled out her phone.

After two rings, Shadow answered, sounding absolutely exhausted. "Hello, Ro-- Are you crying?"

She sniffed back tears from falling, but they were going to anyway. "H-hey, Shadow. C-can you bring me home?" She started to sob, now starting to walk. At this point, she didn't know who lived closer, and didn't care that much at the moment. Her arm really hurt.

A beep made her pull the phone away and look at it, but Shadow suddenly standing in front of her was more interesting than her screen. "...H-hi!" She chirped sadly.

Shadow gently grabbed her free hand. That simple action held so much more emotion than his face let on, and they then stood in his livingroom.

xox

 _sonic you're acting a bit clingy and possessive now stop it_

 _also HM will update pls spare me im working on the chapter now aaaa_


	5. Numb Ears

Out of all places, Amy really didn't expect Shadow to take her right to his home instead of her own. But, she wasn't complaining, the comfort was welcomed. Amy rathered Shadow's larger house, with Shadow in it, compared to her own dreary, empty, lonely one.

She and Shadow stood in the livingroom, him still holding her hand, not too close together but not far apart, either. It looked as if Shadow had just been preparing for bed, as the lights in the kitchen were off, and the Tv remote placed on the stand instead of the usual spot on the coffee table. Amy slipped her phone into her pocket to wipe a few stray tears from her face, looking up to smile sadly at him.

"You don't have to hide it." He sighed, looking to the side without turning his head. "I'll have you sleep here, for tonight."

Amy didn't have anything to say to that, so she just nodded, her smile dropping instantly. Shadow stepped back, turned, and lead her upstairs whilst turning off each light he passed, plunging every room behind him in darkness. He never once let go of her hand. When they reached the hallway hosting the bathroom and bedrooms, he finally let her hand free, but was hesitant doing so.

"I'll wait in the guest room." Shadow left to do just so, leaving Amy in the hallway, alone. At least it was still lit.

She made her way inside the large bathroom and shut the door behind her, splashing her face a few times in the sink. Why did Sonic act that way? Why was he being so strange? Why did he grab her like that? Had... Had Sonic always been like that, and she just didn't notice? It was true she had worn some heavily tinted rose-coloured glasses when it came to spending almost each waking hour around Sonic, but she knew he never acted like that. Sonic would never grab her like that...

Amy looked down at her arm, lifting her wrist to her face and turning it with a wince. It was bruised and sore, alright, with an angry red mark already burning under the skin. She looked even further down, noticing that she still wore her boots. She took them off at Sonic's house, then hastily shoved them back on right before she left and didn't take them off again. Shadow wore socks, which were now probably muddy from where she had been standing before he teleported to her. She also probably tracked mud throughout the house.

It was a bit late, but she took off her boots and wet her hands to pull back her quills. Amy wished she had clothes to change into to sleep over, not wanting to sleep in something she sweat in all day, but today could be an exception. She did shower before going to the room, so there was an attempt.

But, instead of Shadow, she saw a folded pile of clothes on the bed and looked around. It was underwear and pajamas, yet more importantly, _her_ underwear and pajamas. They even matched, too. Without questioning it, Amy took off her dirty clothes and switched, enjoying the soft cotton against her fur while eyeing the dirty fabric now thrown into the room's hamper.

"Shadow?" She called, and a few clicks and snaps later, Shadow leaned in through the doorway and peeked at her.

"Yes, done changing?"

She nodded. "Yeah. T-thank you..." Amy didn't know what else to say after that. Thank you for what? Taking her out of an uncomfortable situation? Not pushing her to talking about it? Telling her it was okay to not smile? Letting her sleep over after he went and got her clothes from her house?

"It's all right." Shadow sighed, pulled up a chair, and sat next to the bed while facing the wall. He didn't talk any further, tucking and hugging his knees to his chest and resting his head on them. He closed his eyes.

Oh. Well... "W-was... your mission okay?" She tried, unsure if he was gonna stay and sleep that way. If he was going to stay, he needed to fall asleep first so she could sleep.

"It could have gone better. I took a hit or two for Rouge, and she injured her arm, but we'll be fine in due time." Shadow barely opened an eye to look at her. "How was your time with Knuckles?"

"O-oh, you knew about that? Well, um... It was really fun, I got to explore a lot of the island and we climbed Mount Thunder at the end and got to see everything from up top. Then Knuckles flew me down to the grass, but he didn't have a very graceful landing." She giggled lightly at the end, pushing herself back to lean back against the pillows.

"I'll have to go up there myself... when I have time." Shadow closed his eyes again. It grew quiet. The light in the room felt a little too bright, so she leaned over and turned it off. Now it was too dark.

..."Are you gonna... go to sleep?"

"It's difficult for me to sleep."

That was not the answer she was expecting, but Amy shrugged it off with a nervous smile. She didn't get to open her mouth before he started talking again.

"I'm here because usually whenever Rouge is upset, she talks my ears numb." Shadow looked straight ahead. "I don't blame her, I would probably do the same."

"I..." Amy looked at the wall, too, trying to find a good way to say what was on her mind without coming off as too rude. "I... Don't know if you'll understand...?"

"If it's about Sonic, then there's not much to understand anyway." he sneered, and the pink hedgehog grimaced.

"You really don't like him, do you?"

"I do, don't get me wrong. It's just I don't like how he goes about certain things. But now's not the time for me to be talking, is it?" Shadow unfolded himself to look at her directly, leaning back in the wooden chair with his arms draped on either side of him. That was the most relaxed Amy had _ever_ seen Shadow.

"Sonic's been acting really weird around me," she bursted, "Everyone's been complimenting my new clothes and style change, but Sonic was the first to act like it was weird or bad on me. Everyone's happy I've been spending time away from Sonic and with them instead, but now he's annoyed that I'm not annoying him! Then, today, when I went to his house to get Tails get his plane ready so he could take me to Angel island, he hugged _me_ as soon as he saw me! When I told him I was there for Tails and his plane only, he got really mad and distant, like he just _hated_ me."

After her outburst, Amu huffed a bit, tears dotting the corners of her eyes as she got riled up. She continued after a few secomds of breathing.

"Then, when I come back all happy and tired, needing to stay the night, he's acting even weirder! He put ketchup on my fries when he knows I don't like ketchup, he brought me like twelve different drinks when I asked for one, and kept saying really loud awkward things when I was talking to Tails! He snapped at Tails a few times, too! Sonic never get mad at Tails!" Tears fell but she didn't wipe them away, her voice starting to crack. "And after I sent you that picture and you responded, I started talking about how nice you were and Sonic growled at _me!_ Me! he growled at me, so I got up and left and that's how I got this damn bruise!"

At the end, she held up her wrist, and Shadow gently grabbed her arm and lowered it, rubbing a thumb over the bruise. There was a pinching sensation, and then he began to heal it. "I'm not on his side, but maybe there were things he did that you didn't notice that made him act strangely and growl." Shadow tilted his head, and Amy looked at her lap.

"He did hug me super hard, like he missed me, b-but I was only away for a day."

"You used to be around him 24/7, so he probably missed that." he shrugged, and Amy followed. She hadn't really thought of that. Sonic thought she came over to visit, not to grab a plane and leave just as fast as she showed up.

"Did he make the ...ketchup, in a symbol or something similar?"

"Yeah. A heart." That was self explanatory. Amy wiped her drying tears away and looked at Shadow's hands. He had already healed her wrist, but had yet to let go. That was fine, though. She didn't want him to let go yet.

"You may not want to hear this, but Sonic has either fallen for you, or wants you to go back to how you used to be."

"Yeah, you're right. I didn't want to hear that."

Shadow let go of her wrist and she clenched her fist in the sheets. Why'd he have to let go? Amy tried to look at him, but he was turned away, and she sighed, slumping back against the headrest.

It grew quiet. Amy didn't reallly know what time it was, but from the moonlight and few streetlights shining in through the window, it was late.

"I believe you shouldn't lie about love." He started, catching her attention. "I know that the love I've come accustomed to is only familial love and love between friends, but the statement still stands. If the love isn't shared, you shouldn't lie that it is."

Amy looked at him for a few seconds. "Wow. I... didn't think you thought that way."

"No one does, really. I'm just an edgey joke half the time, and a terrifying 'friend' that if you say the wrong thing around everyone worries that they'll snap and revert back to an amnesiac revenge killer." He hissed and folded himself back up into the chair. "There's a reason why I only spend time alone or with Rouge or Omega. I was adament in keeping you away, at first, for that exact reason."

The tension grew thick along with the silence, Shadow not continuing and shutting his eyes, as if he was blocking out the world. Amy was hesitant, but she reached out and touched his shoulder, feeling bad when Shadow flinched at her touch.

"Well, I love you." The sentence came out so easily, and she froze. That felt much too real. At first, she simply meant it as friendly love, but saying it out loud made it feel like something else. She saw Shadow open his eyes and feared the worst, afraid that he figured out the extra meaning behind her words.

But, he didn't say anything. Shadow simply looked away for a long time, then stood and made his way to the door. He paused in the frame, hand clutching the wood far stronger than he should.

"I think you should worry about you and Sonic for now, Amy." and then, left, shutting the door softly behind him.

That was first time he ever called her Amy.

She scooted down in the bed and laid still, over the covers, staring at the ceiling. Sonic loved her, but now she didn't love him back. If he had said that just a year ago, that Amy would have had a fit, throwing herself into his arms in less than a heartbeat. But, now, she's moved on, and apparently had a crush on Shadow.

Oh well, it was a crush. It was never going to progress further from that, was it? If it was anything like Sonic, or how Shadow was now, he would say No right away.

She closed her eyes and drifted into an odd sleep.

xox

 _turns out Sonic actually loves Amy, what a surprise!_

 _but, this story is called "Moving On" for a reason ;)_


	6. Argument

With the sun blaring down onto her still, though somewhat diluted by the thin curtains that were hung over the window, the morning came suddenly but sweetly. Amy woke up refreshed and calm, but still a bit groggy. As she woke up, her senses did as well. Sitting up to squint around the dim room, most of the light being provided by the obscured sun, the pink hedgehog yawned and stretched. Her back wasn't as pinched as it normally was when she woke, and she looked to the bed in surprise. Maybe she needed a new type of matress other than the springs she constantly bought.

Her other senses awoke, feeling the gentle cotton against her fur, how soft the sheets actually were, and how calm and serene the house was to her ears. Not a single distrupting sound. Not a rogue construction worker working on the same thing that was never to be fixed, not a group of kids up way too early just so they could play outside before heading to school, nothing. What she did hear was quiet chirping from not so far away, which was both slightly annoying yet calming. The bird was either tone deaf or just having fun because while the chirps were pretty, the songs were way too messed up to be called songs.

The last two senses to go were smell and taste, both of whom not mixing well together. The day before she had somewhat greasy food and tea to wash it down, but didn't have a toothbrush to clean her mouth of it. Now, it tasted horrible.

But, whatever was making the house smell so wonderful was almost tempting her to not brush her teeth.

That was gross however and Amy looked around, seeing a pair of house clothes of a long shirt and shorts laying on the chair, along with a new pair of socks and gloves. She took them to the bathroom, being met by a new toothbrush labeled "Rose" on the handle. Surprisingly enough, instead of pink or red, it was green. Amy snickered while scrubbing her mouth clean.

It took no more than ten minutes to finally be on her way downstairs just to catch Shadow finishing up his food of two pancakes. Two others sat on a different plate, topped with syrup, butter, whip cream, and berries.

"Aw, did you make this for me?" She cooed, and Shadow tilted his head back over his shoulder to smirk.

"Maybe." he answered. The dark hedgehog stood slowly and popped his neck, then twisted side to side to do the same to his back. "Also, my house has nothing fattening in it. Sorry."

She blinked, not sure why he was apologizing when she hadn't complained in the first place. Nonetheless, she sat and took a bite of her breakfast, noticing a glass of water right next to a shorter glass of milk. Everything tasted different, but in a good way. It felt like she wasn't trying to strangle her arteries as soon as she awoke. Hesitantly, she took a sip of the milk, only to notice it was some other type; soy or almond or something similar. Different taste, but still as smooth as regular milk. And probably better for hedgehogs to digest anyway.

"I never knew you ate so healthy, Shadow." She smiled at him, thoughtfully chewing on what could be described as the best pancake she's possibly eaten. Weirdly enough, he was sitting as he did the night before, knees to his chest and arms holding them still.

"...Thank you? Exercise and working isn't the only thing I do. Why do you think Rouge is so in shape?" He lowered his ears, and at first she was going to apologize in fear she hurt his feelings, only to notice him shift his position very slightly and close his eyes.

"Is that how you sleep?"

Shadow's eyes shot open and he glared, and in that instant Amy regretted even opening her mouth. "Unfortunately, yes and no. I've... been awake for days, and this is the only possible position I can at least rest in." his eyes softened a tad, enough to let the other know that there was another meaning of why he sat that way. But, she dropped the topic for the better good.

"Thank you for breakfast, by the way. It's much healthier than anything I've made for sure," She softly giggled, standing to wash her dishes. "Most of anything I bake is so heavy it'll put you to sleep."

Right after she said it, she cringed, glad she was facing the other way. Had she _not_ just tried to drop the subject of sleep?

"Heh, maybe I should eat one of your cakes, then." Amy looked over her shoulder with a nervous smile and laugh, only to see Shadow with one of his rare smiles. A real one, not a smirk or grin, an actual smile, and she felt her face heat up a bit.

"My head hurts." the voiced thought was sudden, making her turn to look at him.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Want me to make you some tea with milk and honey?" She smiled fondly, but Shadow shook his head.

"No, I'll make some later. Thank you for the offer, Rose." She looked away and shyly giggled, getting used to the pet name. No one else called her Rose.

Peeling off her gloves to set on the counter, she ran hot water across the plate to see most of the leftover syrup and whip cream rise right off the ceramic. Since both barely had any sugar, neither were sticky enough to leave stains. She washed everything and set it next to the drying copy of Shadow's dishes. There was a silent pause as she stared at them.

"U-um, I can head home, now, too, if you want because I-I'm sure you have something to do today!" Amy squeaked, just now realizing how quiet it was. When she didn't receive an answer, she turned around just to be face to face with Shadow, letting out a silent cry of surprise.

"I think you have something far more important to do than sit at home." Shadow lowered his eyes. "It's not like you to avoid a problem."

"Avoid? I'm not avoiding anything!" She snapped, making Shadow draw back half a step. "Why are saying I'm avoiding something?"

The agent folded back his ears, snarl slowly forming on his muzzle. "Do not yell at me in my own home." Fists curled at his sides. "Go make up with Sonic. I've called him, and he should be over in a few seconds."

That wasn't expected, and instinctively she turned to the door. A split second passed and there was a frantic knock on the wood. Shadow calmed himself enough to walk over and answer it, stepping aside with eyes glued to the floor.

The blue hedgehog rushed in, barely, if all, looking at the house he now stood in for the first time, running straight for Amy and lifting her in a hug.

"I'll leave you." The ebony hedgehog sighed, closing the door with a soft click amd moving upstairs. Sonic paid him no mind, mumbling 'yeah sure' as he left.

Amy turned her head to give him a proper goodbye, but he was already out of sight. Sonic yanked her to the couch.

"I'm sorry for how I've been acting-- I just _missed_ you so much," Sonic waved his hand at the word 'missed', looking up to the ceiling "And you know how I get when I miss my pals."

"But, Sonic, it had only been a day. I spent a day away from you, and the second day I ended up _trying_ to have dinner with you anyway. I wasn't gone for long." Her voice was far away. Not like the other cared.

"Yeah, but you weren't around! I always see you around. But then when you said you were hanging out with _Shadow_ , of all people, I got kinda jealous." He laughed "I'm surprised he didn't teach you how to use a gun or something like that."

At first, she didn't have a reply to that. Had she _really_ been spending that much time around this guy? "You're being so... different."

"Me? Different? Ames you haven't jumped me once or tried to rope me into a date or make me marry you-- or anything the past _week_! Yeah, that day you spent away was way different than the normal Amy." Sonic turned his body to lean forward, just as the pink hedgie leaned back. "What happened to all that?"

She sighed. "I realized you didn't love me like I wanted you to, so I gave up to try to have at least a normal life with friends instead of chasing someone for the rest of it." Sonic's cocky grin fell into a straight line, and Amy looked away. "Look, Sonic, I--"

"I told you, I _do_ love you."

Amy stood up to avoid looking at him. The air grew thick and heavy with the awkward silence, and the girl wished Shadow would come down and teleport her away, to some beach, or maybe Angel Island, somewhere far away from Sonic. Just the way he was talking and acting was all wrong. This was not the Sonic she knew. Or, maybe, she didn't know him at all.

"Well, even if you do, I don't."

"You don't love you? That's just self esteem talking, once you--"

She cut him off and stared at his shoes, unable to look him in the eye. "No. I don't love _you_ , Sonic. I've tried over and over for years and years," Amy looked away "Endlessly writing letters and notes and poems and sending yo-you things and baking you cakes and cookies and stalking you and hanging out with you-- After all these years, the day I do something different is the day you decide you love me?"

There was a pause as Sonic bore holes into the back of her head, fingers tapping at his knees. "Do you love Shadow? Is that it?"

"I love him more than I love you right now."

It was cold and straight to the point. It was true she did love Shadow, but even _she_ didn't know the extent of her words. It could be familial love, friendly love, or relationship love. No matter what it was, just as Shadow said, it shouldn't ever be lied about.

Sonic stood up as well and was behind her in a second, eyes wide and full of panic. His breathing was a bit too fast and he chuckled nervously. "U-Uh, that can't be true, right? Didn't-- didn't he say he gave up on love or something like that? Sorry, Ames, you can't be just throwing that word around like that if you don't mean it!" his hand grabbed her shoulder but she shrugged it off.

"You should know best about that! Didn't you say that Shadow was your friend? Didn't you always go racing with him? Didn't you try your hardest to turn him good? Didn't you two _save the world together_?" She looked him in the eye, and the blue hedgehog backed up, looking at his hands.

"Um--"

Tears welled in her eyes but Amy didn't let them fall. "Didn't you just spend the last twenty minutes just telling me how bad of a friend he is? How you were surprised he didn't teach me how to use a gun? How you said you missed me after a day of not being around when I had stopped chasing you for a week in advance? And didn't you comment on how different I was dressing and acting when you, right now, are trying to convince me you love me after _years of ignoring me?"_

The blue hedgehog lowered his ears and growled, and, seeing her start crying, stepped closer. "That's why I don't want you around him! All he does is make people change and cry! Hell, two of his closest friends _died_ because of him!"

It was quiet. All went silent, Amy's mouth falling opening when the last sentence registered in her mind. Her eyes shifted upon seeing something in the kitchen, and she slowly turned her head towards it. Shadow stood there, steaming mug in hand with a dripping teabag held an inch above the rim. He was frozen in place, passive expression but staring off into the distance. Shadow slowly set the mug down, a muffled clack of the ceramic hitting the marble countertop making Sonic turn at the noise.

"Oh... Shad--,"

"I think you've said enough." Shadow's voice was cold and dead, void of any possible emotion. Not anger, not sadness, nothing. He looked at them with dull and empty eyes, the ruby red irises now similar to red-painted rocks. "Leave."

Sonic looked at the ground "Look I did--"

"I did not ask for you to speak. I told you to leave." Shadow was suddenly in front of them, hands at his sides and limp. It looked like all the fight was drained out of him, as he didn't even attempt to hold his posture straight or even ball his fists.

Slowly, the blue hedgehog backed away, reaching for Amy's hand. Amy pulled it away to set it on Shadow's shoulder instead, hoping for some reaction, shouting, knocking it off, crying, even, but nothing happened. Shadow simply continued to stare at Sonic until the blue speed demon turned tail and left, pulling out his phone as he did.

Seconds later, Shadow's own phone began to ding with messages, but he removed the cell from his quills and set it on the coffee table with an odd amount of care.

"Shadow...?" Amy whispered.

He didn't answer. The agent took his time to step on and walk up each step, and Amy followed right behind. Shadow went straight to his bedroom without attempting to close the door behind him, shut the blinds, and laid on top of the cover facing the window.

"Shadow, I..." She really wanted to say something, but had nothing to say. "I'm sorry."

His clinched the sheets in a tight fist, curling up into the fetal position, but still not speaking. Amy set her hand on his side this time, expecting him to curl up or lash out, but received a flinch. She started crying again, but much harder, struggling to keep the noise down so her wouldn't know.

"I-I should have said-- Said something to get him to stop-- I _know_ Sonic can't just--!"

"ple...ase..." came a broken plea, the hedgehog on the bed squeezing his eyes shut and shaking. "if you're... so ...s-sorry... then _leave_ _me alone_."

She had nothing left to do. Standing up, Amy bent sharply to kiss the back of his ear then leave his room. The appendage folded down and back at the fleeting touch, and at first, she was going to stay in the guest room to watch over him, but changed her mind. Amy walked slowly and opened her phone, calling the one person she knew could help.

It took a few rings, yet as soon as she exited the house, making sure to lock the door behind her, the bat answered.

"Hello~. Normally I don't answer at work, but I'll make an exception just this once. What is it honey?"

"Hey, Rouge. It's... it's Shadow. He's gone into a mood and went up into his room and told me to leave." She explained, staring at the sidewalk as she let muscle memory bring her home. There was a crash and a flap of wings, before Rouge came back, voice much clearer but now slightly echoed.

"Why? What happened?"

"...Sonic and I got into an argument last night, so Shadow took me to his house for the night. This morning her called Sonic over so he and I could make up, but... Sonic said some awful things about him, and Shadow looked like he just... broke." Amy wiped a tear from her eye, sadly smiling when she looked down at her glove and didn't see any black streaks. She was glad she stopped wearing make-up.

"Oh no... What _exactly_ did Sonic say? Did Shadow say or do or act any way that was totally not like him?" The bat asked quickly, wings now flapping in stressed bassed on the quiet wind in the background.

"It was the very last thing he said. Sonic told me that two of Shadow's closest friends died because of him." There was a sharp hiss over the line, and Amy continued when it ended. "Shadow heard and just went quiet, told Sonic to leave, and went straight to his room and laid down. I touched his shoulder and his side to get him to react, but he just didn't. He didn't even look angry, Rouge, and when I touched him while he was laying in the bed, he flinched and pleaded for me to leave him alone."

Rouge was silent for a second, before a slow, deep sigh sounded out. "Chaos. Shadow hasn't done that in so long, Amy. It's so hard to get him to calm down. I'm-- I'm calling off right now, okay? Are you at his house still?"

"No. He told me to leave, and I did."

"Well, he didn't mean it. Just head back, please. For Shadow's sake."

Amy was quiet, but nodded and told her she would. The bat hung up as Amy turned tail and marched right back to Shadow's house, eyes trailing down to what she wore. A simple house shirt, long enough to go down to mid-thigh and shorts that barely covered her knees. She was still barefoot, only her yellow socks protecting her paws from the rough sidewalk. Her mind was so occupied she hadn't even attempted to propperly dress herself again to leave.

Another thought came to mind when she reached the door, one thay reminded her that she locked it behind her as she left. Tired and having nothing else to do but wait, Amy sat on his doorstep and waited patiently for Rouge to show up and unlock the door for her.

For Shadow's sake.

xox

 _Surprise surprise, angst_

 _I had fun writing this chapter! I bet there's a ton of mistakes. Review?_

 _"Speka isn't Transformatiom supposed to be updated, not Moving On?"_

 _Ah, great question. The answer is_


	7. Pool

By the time the bat had arrived, it was going onto the afternoon and Sonic had already blown up Amy's phone to the point where she flat out turned it off. Rouge landed right in front of her and they both gave the other a once over.

Rouge wasn't wearing anything normal in the slightest, but a black and pink pinstripe button up and black skirt that went to her calves with a red heart adorned white purse against her hip. She said nothing about Amy's clothes, and Amy said nothing about hers. After a second of fishing for the keys, she unlocked the door and opened it.

They were greeted with the sight of Shadow sitting on the couch, hunched over with a book in his claws as if he was attempting to read. Even if he was, his eyes trailed over the same few words over and over before he groaned and flipped back a page. Shadow's claws dug into the cover of the hardback, and by the looks of it, the book was pretty expensive to be destroyed.

"Hello." He sighed, not once looking up, but now staring distantly into the pages.

"Hey hun. You okay? You're usually--"

"Aren't you supposed to be at work still?" Shadow cut her off and looked up for the first time, taking in her uniform with bloodshot eyes. "It's too early for you to be home. I didn't make dinner."

"I think the dinner can wait, Shadow." Amy stepped aside of the concerned bat, looking at her for reassurance when she placed a hand between the spines on her back. "You don't--"

"I have to start dinner now if you're hom-- at my house." Shadow quickly stood as he shook his head, the empty spot on the couch now occupied by the discarded book he didn't bother to bookmark.

"Shadow!" Rouge flew in front of him and held out her arms "You stay still and listen to us, mister!" and stomped her foot for emphasis.

Shadow stared at her, unmoving, unblinkingly watching her stand strong under her gaze.

"...I don't want to talk." He spoke weakly, all the fight in him gone once again as he suddenly hunched over, head tilting down to stare at his shoes.

"We didn't say 'Talk,' we said 'Listen.'" the pink hedgehog was next to Rouge a mere second later, waving her hand back towards the couch. "Now go sit, Shadow."

"I d-don't want to talk or listen." the agent grabbed his head and squeezed it "Please, Amy, Rouge. I _really_ don't want to. L-leave it _alone_." he pushed past them and into the kitchen, slamming the door behind him.

Seconds later, the sound of pots gently moving around came from the kitchen. "If you're going to talk to anybody," Shadow's weak voice called out, muffled through the door "Start with that so-called ' _hero'_."

Amy pulled out her phone, though, and turned it on to show Rouge the hundreds of messages and calls she got from Sonic alone, ignoring the ones sent from Tails or Knuckles in desperate attempts to talk to her. Without even having to go through the messages, they both knew it was better to start with Shadow anyway.

Rouge went up to the door but didn't open it yet. "Alright, hun, you win. We won't talk about it or force you to talk, okay? But we'll stay here with you, Shadow."

There were a few sounds of dishes clashing against each other, then a deep sigh but no response.

Rouge spoke up again. "I know, how about your pool? You emptied it a few months ago because you didn've have time for a swim-- but how about now? We can fill it up and take it for a swim!" She smiled at the door, then was shocked when it opened right after she finished.

"How? I work tonight."

"I called you off!" Was her simple answer, even though she did not, but she could trust the officials to find someone to be the next pencil pusher for a day while Shadow calmed down.

The hedgehog lowered his ears but nodded, walking past her and into the hallway. Amy turned to Rouge with a confused frown.

"Shadow has a pool?"

"Yep. Hasn't used it for months, like I said. It's in the backyard and can fill up in about an hour because of the jets, but it's really big and nice. It's in-ground, too." The bat swished her hips and took the route Shadow followed outside, looking back to make sure Amy followed. "He's only used it a few times, but I was the one that used it the most when I needed to get faster for one of my missions."

Amy only nodded. Another things she didn't know. She had no clue that Shadow had a pool nor that he could swim. And, now knowing that Rouge worked hard to keep her body shape, she felt a it of pity as well. In her mind, GUN was always mission, mission, mission, and by how many guns (and even the motorcycle) that Shadow owned, they much have been fired a ton.

Through a screen door left open, Amy froze.

They came to the backyard to see that Shadow _did_ have a pool, in-ground, as Rouge said, with two ladders on either side and a diving board on the deepest end of six feet. considering that they were an average of three feet tall, six was a lot. Shadow was siting on the tile surround the pool, and just to the left of the stairs leading down into the water was an even larger yard. The yard was mostly bare but contained bushes across the boarder, a large, old tree hung with belongings, and a shed.

"So, what do you two do at GUN anyway?" Amy spoke, staring quiet before picking up in volume while looking down at the lawn chairs Rouge set up.

Though the sound of the working jets and water cascading down into water was a bit loud, Rouge smiled and replied with a shrug. "Usually once a week we go on an important mission, but if it's difficult we stay for three days. If it's really bad, we stay for a month. But, any other time we write about information, stock, mission details, what could possibly go wrong or right and what we did wrong or right-- Mundane crap like that. It's so boring! I had a write a report about how much printer ink we were buying and going through a week."

"Except for the occational police duty we're randomally called in for, nothing too interesting." Shadow called over his shoulder. Amy hummed.

"Then how do you two stay so fit? If I worked there I would get so fat because I _know_ they have tons of snacks there."

"Oh honey, they _do._ The one time I went off my diet I gained five pounds. And they weren't the nice looking five pounds, either." Rouge snickered and pat her flat stomach, making Amy blush a bit in jealousy.

"Well, you're lucky yours doesn't jiggle like jello." She huffed playfully, looking at her own stomach. The pink hedgehog wasn't fat in the slightest, but her stomach did have a bit of a pudge now that she stopped 'exercising' (Which was chasing Sonic, but no _way_ was she going to that again.)

"A little weight is great, Rose. We have to look like this for gun, because with every person that decides to give up and stuff themselves full, our job is made ten times harder because they can't stay qualified to work." Shadow laid back. "I physically cannot gain weight, but I would love to do so and show them how horrible it is to write five-page reports about how much money's been spent on staples in the past week."

"Oh, I'd help if I could! But I-I'm sure GUN life just isn't for me." she smiled fondly, looking down to Rouge's hand patting her own.

"No problem. But now's not for talking-- The pool's full!" She announced, getting up and running for her guest room upstairs.

Amy was about to comment on how her swimsuit was at home, but when she noticed Shadow standing right next to her she stopped. "H-Hi?"

"Do you not need your swim wear?" He said it in genuine concern, holding out his hand for her to take. The pink hedgehog chuckled nervously and nodded, grabbing his hand and bracing for the sudden jolt of him teleporting. The second their hands touched, she gripped his just a little bit tighter, but Shadow said nothing, and they stood in her home.

It looked lifeless.

That was the best way to describe it, the lights left off from the last time she was in it, everything still in place, all the dishes washed but yet to be put into the cabinets and still in the drying rack. The television was off, too, leaving no sound in the house. The only thing sporting life were the plants she frequently watered, where only one had dropped a few leaves.

"Wow," She breathed, frowning at the not-in-use state of her home. "Maybe I should visit more?" then, laughed a bit nervously.

"Rouge used to visit so much her house was essentially up for takes. Though, now, she rents it to the Chaotix whenever she wants to stay for a while." Shadow made his way to the stairs "But get your swimwear, Rose."

She grinned and gave a quick nod, running upstairs while Shadow waited patiently at the bottom. For all about five seconds until he went exploring, going into the kitchen to look around at the colour of the walls and floor, the silver fridge, and a small lamp that sat above the sink. The livingroom was twice the size of the kitchen, but that wasn't saying mhch considering the kitchen wasn't that big to begin with.

There was a tan couch in the middle with three multicoloured throw pillows laid across it, and a short black table sat in front as a coffe table. The floor was covered with a soft yellow carpet while the walls were painted pink with red roses dotting around randomly. Shadow pulled a potted plant down out of the five, smirking at the irony of it being a cactus and its owner a hedgehog. Though it was small, it looked as if it was growing well.

"Ready!" Amy called, now clad in her teal two-piece bathing suit that came with short shorts, consequently showing her stomach, and Shadow looked up for a split second before turning to set the plant back in its rightful place.

"Right, sorry." Shadow held out his hand, and once again, Amy took it and held on just a tad bit tighter than she should. But, instead of teleporting, they simply stood there.

"...Um... what's wrong?"

"I've," he looked at the ceiling "never seen you in two-piece."

Amy giggled a bit "Well, I guess that's where _you_ need to pay more attention. I've almost always worn one everytime I went to the beach!" She almost wanted to add 'with Sonic' at the end, but didn't. In turn, she smiled again at his growing blush.

"I hadn't... noticed. You--" She felt the distinct motion of his thumb rubbing the back of her hand "Look nice."

Before she could respond, however, Amy suddenly stood right in front of the pool.

"What took you two lovebirds so long? I had enough time to make myself a drink!" Rouge chastised, holding up a glass of semi-clear gold liquid topped with ice. She wore, surprisingly, a dark blue one-piece with an open back. Amy opened her mouth to apologize but was cut off.

"That's apple juice, Rouge." Shadow snarked playfully, then dived into the water and was gone.

Rouge wasted no time and downed the rest of her fruity drink before jumping in with a messy cannonball, leaving Amy standing by herself right next to Shadow air skates. She didn't even notice him taking them off, but shrugged and jumped in herself (albeit gentler than them, as she wasn't the strongest swimmer).

Under the water, she opened her eyes to see Shadow swimming up to her to lift her head out. Before Amy could say anything, he pressed his hand on her head. "Tag." and vanished under the water.

Amy giggled and dove to try to catch up to him, but he was already at the other side of the pool somehow holding himself to the bottom. A quick motion out the corner of her eye made her turn onto her back and swing out her arm, slabbing Rouge's shoulder as she tried to cheat and fly out the water. Amy gurgled 'tag!' at her and surfaced just in time to see Rouge wading water towards her.

Just before she made contact, the bat winked and flapped her wings twice, sending her spiralling into the air and turning over to dive down into the water. Seconds later Shadow surfaces, gasping for breath while Rouge held him tightly to her chest. No matter how hard he struggled and paddled at the water, Rouge held him steady.

Finally, he gave up. "Not fair."

"Who says I couldn't bring wings to a water fight?" Rouge cooed into his ear as he folded it back.

"Everyone! Rose, help me!" Shadow reached for her, and, shocked but determined, Amy leaped forward to grab his hand and pull.

Rouge put up no fight at all, considering the water was way too slippery and Shadow was also a spikey death trap, but still playfully huffed and called them cheaters. The half-hearted claim fell onto deaf ears as Amy realized what was happening at the moment.

Shadow, with slicked down fur and quills, breathing heavily with a sly but happy smile gracing his muzzle instead of the usual smirk or frown, was pressed against her in a tight hug. Every part of him she could feel was warm, and his gently heaving chest pushed against her own so close that she could feel his thudding heart. With her fur also being wet, she could feel skin against skin, warmth flooding her chest through the thin material covering it.

"Earth to Rose," Shadow called, gently pulling her ear left ear as she snapped out her thoughts "Water in the ears?"

"S-Sorry!" She yelped, then buckled her knees to doggy paddle away in a hopefully normal manner, not aware of Shadow and Rouge sharing a knowing look.

xox

 _Not too proud abt this one_

 _you wanna know the best way to get rid of sad the Shadow way? Do something happy and **never talk about it.**_

 _Next Chapter's gonna be full of Talking_


	8. The Talk

After she swam and played with Shadow and Rouge for a bit longer, Amy turned in for the day and made her way back home by herself.

Right away, she worked on making the house look like someone actually inhabited it, changing the layout of the furniture some, turning the television on for once, and even placing her plants on the windowsill after not getting adequate sunlight for days. Amy smiled at her handiwork, then spun on her heel to head for the kitchen. Though she always cooked for herself, everything she had in mind and had a recipe for was either very unhealthy or had something to do with baking.

"I really need to organize these," she mumbled to herself, riffling through her stack of recipe cards "Or flat out get better cards." Finally, she tossed them all back onto the box on the counter and settled on making plain spaghetti.

In the middle of grabbing a pot off her hanging rack, the pink hedgehog paused. Why was she so keen on making something healthy? It was her house, afterall. A little fat was okay. She mentally blamed Shadow for feeding her nothing but healthy stuff. Now that she thought about it, even the popcorn Shadow gave her had no butter and was lightly salted, and her drink was clear.

"Health nut!" she giggled, then picked up the first card her hand brushed upon and started cooking.

It didn't take very long for her to finish the burritos, considering she only made two because she was only feeding herself, so she took it to the couch to finish while watching TV. Amy watched, but heard none of what was being said. It seemed like only background noise as she ate one of her burritos. It tasted greasy.

... It was oddly quiet. Amy realized how lonely Knuckles must feel. Though he didn't need to protect the Master Emerald _all_ the time as he had a mental connection with it and Tikal. If anything were to happen on the island that was out of the orginary, he would sense it and head off right away. Knuckles once explained that he didn't have much to do on and off Angel Island, so he stayed simply out of having nothing else to do.

The pink hedgie's hand was on her phone before she knew it, fingers tracing over the screen as Knuckles was called. He answered on the second ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Knuckles. I-I..." Amy looked around her house with a shallow frown "Was wondering if you wanna come and hang out tomorrow?"

"Sure, got nothing better to do anyway. I was gonna come down with Sonic and Tails to have breakfast, but Sonic's cooking he's terrible at it." the echidna laughed half-heartedly, considering what exactly she wanted.

"Oh, sorry, you can go to breakfast with them if you want! I don't mean to interrupt!" Then, as an afterthought "Maybe, after that, we all can hang out together?"

"Sure! Thanks, Amy. I'm..." he sighed "I'm so glad we're friends, you know? I really appreciate you. But if you tell anyone I said that!!" It was an empty threat.

Amy giggled and thanked him back, sharing a 'see you later' before hanging up and thrusting her head back with a groan of defeat.

Why did she have to say that!? She didn't want to be around Sonic, not after what he said about Shadow!

"I just won't bring it up," She told herself "Won't bring it up, and I won't talk about it. Shadow deserves a better friend than that."

She had only eaten half of her first burrito, and her second was untouched and growing cold. Amy was still hungry so she ate the rest of the first one and put the other in the fridge with a sigh, closing it behind her and picking up her phone to scroll through it absentmindedly.

She planned on spending time with Vanilla and Cream the day after tomorrow, because Vanilla needed help with her garden and after Cream was done playing she needed help with her high school literature.

So much time had passed. Almost 10 exact years had passed, which was 14 total years she had chased after Sonic if her math was right. Amy wasted so much of he life going over someone that would never love her.

It was stressing to think about. It was way too stressing and the TV was too quiet and the burrito was too greasy and everything was just too _everything_.

"What did I even do for fun?" Amy croaked, looking around her house in a fit. She was great at baking, and loved plants. At one point she got a job at a flower shop, but quit after such a short time she might as well not have started.

Silver worked in a flowershop, she knew that! Whenever he wasn't doing anything in the future, he would come back to work in the shop and hang out sometimes. Of course she didn't know when he did, or where he worked, or how to contact him, so the thought was useless!

Well, what else did she have? Vanilla always helped her bake and often gave her recipes, but because Vanilla got a job as a doctor not so long ago, they didn't have much time together. Big was almost always with Cream every time she came home from school in case Vanilla was trapped at work, anyway.

Blaze was sure her friend, they hung out a ton whenever Silver drug her back from the future, and Amy had even cut off time with Sonic to spend time with her instead. But, again, came the issue with Silver and his oddly timed visits.

Shadow and Rouge were great! They mostly stayed in the same spot, warned when they had to work, and usually planned things out at least a day ahead, just as Amy did! But it felt like she was maybe spending too much time with them. Was she becoming too clingy?

"Am I clingy?" She asked herself desperately, dashing out the kitchen and up to her bedroom. "I hope I'm not. Gosh, does Shadow think I'm clingy? Does Knuckles think I'm spending too much time with him, too? What about Tails? Maybe--"

Her phone ringing cut her off, and she thanked whoever it was for deciding to call and distract her from her mental breakdown. The stressed pink hedgehog snatched up her cell without reading who it was, answering with a relieved yet ecstatic "Hello!"

"Ames!" Her face fell right then and there. Sonic was the _last_ person she wanted to talk to. Sitting at her desk in her room, she opened her laptop and spotted the time. It was nearing one in the morning.

"Sonic, it's really late..." fingers flew across the keyboard, looking up flower shops hiring near her. There were plenty, and she smiled to herself.

"But _you_ seem excited for some reason. Why's that?" Sonic sounded so hopeful, and that itself was what was kinda upsetting. It was like he wasn't even phazed by what happened so early on in the day.

"Just..." She rolled her eyes "Something happened, that's all. Why are you calling?"

Sonic could be heard breathing heavily for a second, and, fearing the worse, Amy gripped hard at her phone and prepared to hang up. Then, he sniffled and spoke with his still cheery toon. "Wanted to say sorry! That's all. I... I tried to call Shadow, and I even showed up at his house, but Rouge answered both times and told me to fuck off! So I'm kinda out of options."

Was... he crying? "Are you... are you asking me to speak to him?"

"I just don't know, Amy. I'll-- I'll figure something out, I always do. I just royally fucked up! But, it's fine. I thought I should at least start with you." his voice quivered at the end and there was another sniffle along with the scratch of him rubbing his eyes clear. Amy shuddered and suddenly found it hard to fill out the application.

"What are--"

"Sorry, for cutting you off, I mean. This next sorry is for being an asshole to you lately. I-- I was just so used to yo-you being around almost _all_ the time. When I noticed it was pretty much too late, and you were _gone_. I felt like I did something wrong, l-like you didn't want to be friends anymore. He-hell, I convinced myself I loved you and tried to win you back that way. I-I thought you were-- Shadow _hates_ me, Amy."

He breathed in deeply, but she stayed quiet for him to continue.

"He-- Well, I mean, he doesn't hate-- Damnit, you get the picture, right?"

"Y-yeah."

"We're not on good terms. He's always thought I was annoying and shit and--" his voice broke up, and he quickly cleared it and started talking again. But, it was no longer in the cheery tone. "I thought he was telling you how much he hates me, and was trying to get you to hate me, too. What I said and did was so fucking wrong, Amy. It was fucked up on so many levels-- I brought up his dead friends who've meant the world to him, Amy, and I said that he killed them from just being friends with them, Amy. I'm so fucking sorry."

Amy herself was also close to tears, looking everywhere in her room before settling onto her laptop. It was hard to type, but she ended up on Google and searched up pictures of kittens. It helped.

"I-- I...I understand if you do hate me, if you didn't hate me before. I mean, I really, really, really messed up. Big time. I've... I've spent the rest of the day inside my room, which kinda sucks. I couldn't say it to Shadow, and I think I wont ever be able to. I'm just... glad I was able to tell you, at least. I'm sorry."

Before she could speak, Sonic hung up. Amy hurried to call again, but this time he didn't answer. His phone rang on and on, then clicked off to a voicemail box that was full anyway so she couldn't leave a message if she wanted to.

The kittens weren't helping anymore. She pulled up kittens _and_ puppies, and that was doing something. With another number, and seeing the time blaring 1:43 at her, Amy listened to the dull ringing before a click of an answer.

"Hello, Rose. It's rather late, shouldn't you be asleep?"

"Can you talk to me until I fall asleep?"

Amy saved the application wherever she stopped at, dragging herself out of her chain and over to her bed. The sheets were cold, but she snuggled into them anyway.

"Okay, Amy. What do you want me to say?"

After a bit of thinking, she closed her eyes and spoke numbly. "Something about the ARK."

Shadow was quiet for a bit, then chuckled so lightly Amy wasn't quite sure she heard it.

"I was often tested and experimented on plenty of times, and Maria would always be there with me, cheering me on during difficult puzzles and making sure I was well taken care of during challenges."

"I like Maria." She didn't know why she said it, but she heard Shadow laugh again but slightly louder. "I do, too."

"When I began to practice chaos control, I could never get the hang of it. I never could make it work, and the only thing it would do is give me a slight shove in a direction if the target was in sight. After hours and hours of training, Maria grew too tired to stay with me and went to rest. I'm glad she did, because as she left, I was disappointed that I couldn't teleport to the target that was now just behind me. I kept thinking about the target, and how it looked, and how far away it was, and how angry I was at myself that I couldn't show Maria that I would do it. Then, I teleported, straight into the target face first at breakneck speed."

Amy giggled lowly, covering her mouth to muffle it until he mentioned how the scientist themselves broke out into laughter as well in which she let her mouth go to guffaw. "I'm sorry! That sounds so painful,"

"You can laugh. it's fine. It _was_ painful. Imagine slamming face first into a woodboard so hard it splinters down the center. At the time, I was too excited that I actually did it that the pain didn't register. I was so excited that I teleported to Maria herself just to bring her to the testing room and show her what I did. Given, I showed her twice and ended up not being able to do it again in the actual testing room, but she was still proud. The pain came later on when I calmed down, though."

"I'm proud of you, too." Amy's voice was slightly distant before she blinked rapidly and woke herself up a bit. "Was Maria proud?"

"Very. Gerald, too, but not as much as Maria. Though she was tired, she was bubbly and excited, talking to me endlessly about how many places we could explore without getting in trouble because I could just teleport away."

The stories continued on; Amy would ask something that slowly became incoherent, and Shadow would try to understand her enough to answer with a story. Eventually, she didn't speak, so Shadow told a different tale he knew Amy wouldn't remember.

Her breathing evened out, and Shadow smiled, hanging up to let Amy rest while he sat up in bed, staring out the window.

Then, his phone rang, but this time he answered when he saw who was calling. Rouge peeked into his room seconds later, and with the short eye contact held, she nodded and left him be.

xox

 _i dunno, I kinda assumed this one would be longer somehow. but, as I warned, this is full of Talk_


	9. Brekkie

Though there was barely any sunlight out at the moment, the small amount that pushed through the blinds made Amy groan and turn onto her opposite side. A sudden cold sting against her face made her spring up in bed, glaring with bleary eyes at whatever disturbed her. It was simply her phone, which was now dying after being on all night without charging. Amy pulled a dry laugh from her throat from how much she felt like her phone at the moment; cold, stiff, and low on energy.

With a glance to the clock that also seemed too bright in the dark room, she read 5:42 AM and groaned. Amy tossed back her covers and placed her phone on the charging station, hearing the delighted 'beep' it gave in approval as she stepped out of bed and towards the bathroom. At this point, Amy felt drained and exhausted, like all of her energy was sucked away yesterday and she was feeling the repercussions now. It didn't help that her stomach was also a bit sore from all the swimming, but she shrugged off the pain and stripped herself of her clothes. It even took the hedgie a second to realize she never changed into her pajamas.

And, doing a lazy think she'd never find herself doing any other time, shoved her toothbrush into her mouth and stepped into the shower.

Turning on the steaming hot water, Amy stood, slightly hunched over as she worked the dials until it was bearable and ducked her head under the spray. Her troubles and tiredness seemingly washed away, and Amy held her head a little bit higher and started to wash. Then, brushed her teeth absentmindedly.

A lot happened yesterday. Firstly, she woke up, had a nice, healthy breakfast made by Shadow himself, but then Sonic was invited over and slaughtered the mood. Shadow got depressed, and Amy didn't know what to do or how to help and ended up prying Rouge from work. Even if Rouge hated the job or the paperwork, money was not a cool thing to miss out on, and Amy felt bad for it. They calmed down with a nice swim and all went home before Amy discovered she hated being alone, and Sonic came up again to 'undo' everything he did and said.

It was a lot to take in, with most of the day being bad rather than good.

She lifted her head higher and ran shampoo through her longer quills, not caring if the scent matched her soap's scent or not.

Now that she thought about it, what was going to happen today? Breakfast with Knuckles and Tails and then Sonic. Not like they were separated, but… when Sonic was still on her bad side and she didn't want to bring up what was said but simply enjoy breakfast, that was Fine to her. But now, after he said all that he said and probably didn't tell Tails or Knuckles, she felt a bit wary. Sonic was either going to ignore anything ever happened, or try to talk about it either as a group or one-on-one. None of the options sounded pleasant.

The water was growing a bit cold now, so Amy washed off whatever soap could have lingered in her fur and turned off the tap. Roughing rubbing herself dry with a towel, she hobbled into her room adjacent and made for the dresser drawers to pull out a bra and panties. Amy slipped them on, grabbed both her phone and charger, and went downstairs to lay on the couch.

It was far from being more comfortable than her bed, but it was also super early so there were always cooking shows, the news, and infomercials on and she kinda liked to look at all the products.

"Maybe I can ask Shadow for a few recipes," she laughed slowly, her eyes moving from the tv to rest on the ceiling. Would Shadow even be up at this time? She glanced at her clock, seeing it was now 6:22 AM. Shadow didn't seem to like the morning, did he? He was up early to both make and eat breakfast, and had enough time to make Her breakfast as well, so didn't he have to get up pretty early to do that?

Well, anytime Amy Did see Shadow asleep was during the middle of the day in passing. Napping on a park bench, in a tree, on top of a building. Whenever he wasn't with Rouge or being bothered by Sonic or someone else, Shadow was always sleeping any chance he got, wasn't he? He Was awake when she called him, and from the log on her call records, they talked for nearly two hours. It was around three in the morning when he hung up.

Her phone buzzed and Amy jolted a bit, yanking it up from the charger and staring at the screen. Fully charged. She texted Shadow.

'Are you awake?'

The response was immediate. 'Yes.'

'Why?'

'Why are you?'

She didn't reply at first, looking down to her still sore, slightly pudgy stomach and suddenly remembering why she wanted to text him in the first place. Then, he texted her again without her having said anything yet.

'I can't sleep at night. Never have been able to. I have work today, so I won't be able to talk long.'

'that sucks.' it applied to both statements. 'I'm so tired, Shadow.'

'It will be fine. Maybe not now, but it will. I have to leave now, Rose. Good luck for the rest of your day and week.'

The words made her freeze and place her phone on her fuzzy tummy, eyes widening a fraction. "I didn't even say I felt down," she told herself, swallowing heavily before realizing she was deathly thirsty.

Tired and a bit shocked, Amy stood and walked into the kitchen, slightly dizzy as if there was nothing but air beneath her feet and the fridge was ten miles away. She downed a glass or water in seconds, then filled it up again only to sip it this time.

She was naked.

Well, not totally naked, but underwear didn't really classify as clothes.

"Chaos," she wheezed "I need… a hobby, something. What time is it?"

Before she could lift her phone to check, it began to ring from Knuckles calling her. She answered while walking upstairs to put on something more breakfast appropriate.

"Hello?"

"Hey Amy. Are you still coming to breakfast? I know the thought of Sonic cooking Anything sounds terrible but I promise it won't be That bad." Knuckles laughed, and from the background noise, he was on his way to the house.

"U-uh, yeah, I am! I just gotta… get read--" she hopped into her pants and successfully ended up flopping backwards onto the bed, dropping her phone in the process. "Aah! Knuckles-- Are you still there??"

"Y-yeah, I am. Are you… okay? You don't sound too good over there…"

"I'm-- I'm fine!" finally, the pants were on and buttoned, leaving the shirt to be tossed on easily. "Sorry, I was uh-- nevermind. Um, I'll be over in a minute! See you there!"

"Alright! See you there, Amy!" and he hung up.

The pink hedgehog looked at the screen, noticing a text from Rouge now, telling her that they'll both be at work. She hastily told her to be safe and take care of herself, then pulled on some simple shoes and jogged out the door.

"Bright side!" she chanted "The bright side is that I see my friends and eat free breakfast!"

Having not actually run in a while, Amy was a bit surprised at the speed she was picking up, then grinned when she realized the reason why Sonic and Shadow ran so much. Now that she wasn't Chasing someone, running was actually Fun!

It did take her a bit longer than a minute to get there, but when she stood at Sonic's door, she fixed up her clothes, quills, and even pulled her gloves off to show off her nails. She painted them, when she didn't remember, and also made sure to grow them out so she could use them in a fight just like Rouge and Shadow did.

"Tails should try it too, it's cool!" she whisper-yelled to herself, rapping her knuckles against the door as she admired her nails.

There was a call from behind the door before it opened, revealing Tails.

"Amy!"

"Tails!"

They exchanged a tight hug and she was let in, immediately turning to the large red echidna and giving him a bone-crushing hug as well and grinning when he returned it. When Knuckles finally let go and clapped her on the back, Amy swallowed down a lump in her throat and peeked into the kitchen to see Sonic setting the last plate. He was smiling, from what she could see, but it was gentle.

Amy danced over to her seat, which Tails pulled out for her and she thanked him for, only to quickly take it back when he pulled it against just as she was going to sit and made her crash to the floor, bursting with laughter.

Amy cried out "You jerk!" and whapped him on the leg, turning just in time to see Knuckles pressing a pillow to his muzzle like his life depended on it.

Still laughing, the hedgie stood and shooed Tails to his own seat, promising to get him back later as she sat and shouted for Knuckles to not laugh at her.

"I-I'm not laughing! I swear!" he shouted right back, face nearly as red as his fur, just as Sonic stepped in.

"What's all the hubbub?" he asked, voice a bit too quiet to sound like Normal Sonic. But, it went unnoticed by both the fox and echidna as he set the food down.

"Tails yanked out Amy's chair."

"Knuckles!" the kit gasped, waving frantically for the other to stop. Sonic only turned confused eyes over to him, smiled and laughed airily.

"Nice one, bud. Amy, you okay?" before he could sit, Amy rushed over to him and hugged him closely.

Amy lifted her head, just barely, and whispered in his ear. Slowly, Sonic hugged her back just as tightly before both released each other and offered a smile. Sonic's smile grew just a bit more genuine.

"I'm fine, Sonic."

"Alright, Ames. Let's get eating, right? I didn't just slave over a hot stove just for it to get cold!"

The interaction was a bit awkward from the others' point of view, of a hug that lasted for a bit longer than ten seconds, but they ignored it and shouted for the two to part and get to their seats so they could eat.

Amy pulled out her chair with a quick pointed glare to Tails, which the fox shrunk and laughed at, and laughed herself and sat down to a plate of eggs, grits, and bacon. There was even toast with a jar of jam on the table between them all, along with glasses of orange juice, water, and milk.

Not long after they all dug in, chatting a bit loudly with one another, Amy's phone vibrated in her pocket and she paused to check it.

Two pictures from Rouge.

The first was of her and Shadow sitting next to each other, decked out in heavy-looking GUN uniforms and making faces at the camera. Rouge was laughing with one ear drooped low and her tongue hanging out, also giving the camera a peace sign, while Shadow tiredly pulled down his eyelid and barely poked out his tongue. The caption read "Mission Ready"

Then, the second picture was blurred of both of them looking slightly panicked while the General quickly approached from the background. The caption was hastily typed with plenty of mistakes, but it read something along the lines of "NO FUN ALLOWED"

With a heavy, barely suppressed snicker, Amy decided to not show anyone and shoved her phone into her pocket to enjoy the rest of breakfast.

xox

 _i spent so much time writing this and reading over and proudly posting just to fucking realise **this is the wrong story.** i was supposed to update Hivemind. i still got half the next chap of it, though. love you_


	10. I'm Durable

"So, Amy, what are you gonna do now?" Tails chirped happily while absentmidingly laying up against her side. She smiled a bit and looked down at her phone.

"Boring adult crap. I'm having someone find Silver for me so I can apply for a job." She sighed. Knuckles perked up a bit, turning to look over his shoulder for a split second just to turn back to the racing game against Sonic.

"A job? With Silver? What are ya gonna do, go back and forth through time?" He chuckled, but even as he said it he felt Amy frown at him.

"Nah, nothing like that. He works a flowershop, remember? It was the last job I had, but, uh, I quit _super_ fast for weirdly obvious reasons." Amy set her phone in her lap as Tails and Knuckles shared a quick laugh.

Sonic tensed slightly on his controller. He knew exactly why she quit, and it was because of him. He knew she was over him and they had nothing going for each other, but he really didn't expect that to sting so much. He only snapped out of it to realize he was crashed into the wall and had to restart from the last checkpoint, giving Knuckles the lead.

"So, how are you even talking to him? his phone doesn't work through time." He said instead, trying to distract himself from being distracted, which wasn't working.

"Easy, Shadow! He can create a signal that Silver can see. He can't actually go to the future, but he told me he can do this thing where he makes like a _big_ blast but condenses it into a tiny ball and it makes so much energy it disturbs Silver so much he races over here to find out what it is!" The pink hedgie sat up in excitement, only to realize she nearly knocked Tails over and had been rambling a bit. "Sorry," She whispered, but Tails shook it off with a grin.

"He can? What else can he do? Shadow's so distant with us, we can barely talk to him!" Knuckles piped up, grinning when he won the race and pumping his hands into the air.

But, just as he did, Sonic set down his controller with a neutral frown and whispered that he didn't really feel like playing another round just yet.

"Uh, plenty of things, I guess. He mainly says he's distant because he's actually super shy and quiet, and if he doesn't know what to say he just stays quiet. I don't know all the things he can do, I just know a few things he's accidentally shown me. Like he can hold his breath for a super long time and he's an amazing swimmer. He even has his own pool! And he's a great chef and he's real big health nut-- _all_ his food is extremely healthy and I bet half the things in his house is homemade." She babbled, and only two of them were interested in what she was saying.

"You should ask to go to his house sometimes, I'm sure he'd like to hang out!" She finished, and, just as Tails and Knuckles began saying they would love to and wanted to talk to him right then, Sonic stood.

"Hey, you all wanna get some ice cream? Its hot out." He grinned.

As much as ice cream sounded nice, and as much as she wanted to spend more time with them, Shadow had text her Silver was onnhis way minutes ago and she had no time to spare. "Sorry, Sonic, I gotta pass. Silver's almost here and I can't miss my chance. Maybe next time, okay?"

She gave them all a quick goodbye hug and dashed out the door, waving behind her at the three figures bunched in the door. Amy's phone decided to ring again, just as she began running, and with a growl of frustration she slowed and answered.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Amy! Shadow said you wanted to... meet me for something?" Came a voice she hadn't heard in a while, and, right after, she beamed.

"YES! Silver! Hello! I haven't heard your voice in so long! And yes, I do! Where can I meet you?" After a quick address and confirmation, Amy hung up and took off in a sprint to the park not so far from where she stopped.

She got there a bit earlier than they established, but it was okay. Shadow and Rouge were getting off work in two hours, Vanilla was still planning on her to show up tomorrow, and the park was full of kids and families playing together and chilling on the soft grass. Amy sat on an empty bench and waited.

Minutes later, as she grew anxious, an ivory hedgehog rounded from behind the bench and sat down, startling her into flinching. "Silver!"

"Hi," He smiled, and her anger melted away into a laugh. Silver was not someone you could stay mad at, even for a second.

They shared a strong hug and a handshake before turning into Buisiness Mode.

"So, I finished my online application and sent it into your shop, but I figured it would be greater if I met you in person to actually talk and see if there was actually a need for me or not."

"Yeah, we do. So, since I upgraded from only flowers to flowers, succulents, and canes, a few workers told me they didn't know how to care for them and didn't want to fret over plants they didn't know about than their regulare growing flowers. Everyone loves tulips and roses, but say one thing about a donkey tail being over-watered and suddenly _you're_ the bad guy." Silver rolled his eyes, then waved his hand slightly at the end and scoffed.

"Donkey...tail?" Amy whispered, silently hoping Silver didn't hear her confusion.

"You'll get it, don't worry. Also, why do you even want a job? The last time we got to talk was super short and it didn't seem like you wanted to sit still for more than a minute. What changed?" He turned to her fully, tilting his head in such a cute way it caused her to blush.

"I kinda stopped caring about marrying Sonic," Amy coughed "And decided to be my own person for once and not date til I was _sure_ the feeling was mutual

Silver laughed "Wow, that's a totally different Amy from the last Amy _I_ knew! I like it. And I like your new clothes, too. If you're gonna show off your nails, I reccomend fingerless netted gloves. Easy to slip on and off and look amazing."

"Do you work with plants or clothes?" She smirked, and Silver grinned right back with a terrible attempt at wiggling his eyebrows.

Not long after the two met up and talked, they eventually landed themselves at a café for donuts and iced coffee. Amy admitted she didn't drink much coffee, but she took it with a smile.

"So," Silver took a sip, then slowly put his cup back onto the table. "When are you gonna tell Shadow how you feel?"

Amy was quick to bring a napkin up to her mouth, almost sure she would have choked or doused Silver with coffee. Or both. "What are you _talking_ about!?" She gasped, and Silver chuckled.

"Its hard to hide things from me now, ever since the whole 'almost helped detroy the world because someone tricked me' thing. Every time I asked you how you've been doing or what you've been getting into recently you answer with either not being home, spending time with and/or texting Shadow, staying at Shadow's house, or something similar. So..." He tilted his head and laced his fingers together "When?"

She didn't know she spent that much time with him. Honestly, she thought she spent more time with Rouge than anyone, but maybe she _did_ talk to Shadow a lot... "Is it really that easy to tell?"

"Not really."

"Oh jeez, Silver. I don't know if I actually like him, but he's so cute and really nice looking and super kind and protective and really cool and I like him and how he thinks and how he feels and his fur-- man I wanna touch the crap out his fur I mean I touched it when he was holding me in his pool but there was water everywhere and he's so warm and I just wanna fall asleep in his arms..." Amy groaned, carefully sliding her hardly touched coffee out the way before laying her head on the table.

For a pause, Silver took a long sip from his straw then looked down to the pink quills sprawled out across the table. His coffee was quickly gone, leaving him to make an annoying sound from the straw before stopping. "Are you sure you don't like him?"

"Fine, I like him!" She raged for a split second, then lowered her ears as well and fell silent.

"...And have you asked him how he feels about _you?"_ The ivory hedgehog brushed his hand o

ver her hair and she groaned in sadness.

"No.. it would be way too awkward. What if he doesn't and it makes it weird between us?" Amy finally lifted her head just to look out the window. "What would I do then? I don't want to lose him as a friend, Silv."

"So, how about _I_ ask him, huh? And, it's getting a bit late in the afternoon, and I have some stuff to do. If you can't find out today, then I'll do it tomorrow." He stood, bending to place his hand on her head and kiss the back of it. "Now, clean your face off from rubbing it on this dirty table and go as Shadow if you can hang out today."

Silver turned and left, throwing out his empty cup on the way. Amy followed his lead but went to the bathroom to scrub her face, just in case the table actually was as dirty as Silver said, then left the café and stood outside.

She held her phone for way longer than she should have, simply staring down at it, at Shadow's contact specifically with the small call icon beneath it. Amy breathed in deeply and hit the botton, holding her breath as the phone rang. The noise wasn't very loud, but right now it felt like it was blaring into her ear and rattling her brain.

Then, it went quiet, and Shadow spoke. "Hello, Rose. Did everything go alright with Silver?"

Amy let go of the breath she was holding and turned around a few times "Ye-yeah, it did! Can I um... Can I come to your house? To-- To talk, or hang out?" Her voice was shaking.

"Er... sure. Are you okay? If you want to speak to Rouge, too, she wont be here today." The pink hedgie was quick to tell that she was okay and hang up, already running to his house in absolute fear.

Surprisingly enough, as the world passed by in a blur, she stood at his front door and knocked three times within minutes of leaving the coffee shop. Shadow opened it on the third knock, looking down at her in a kind of expression not easily explained.

"I should really get you a key."

 _'He wants to get me a key!?'_ was her first thought, then, realizing that he had stepped aside to let her in, quickly shuffled in and sat on the couch.

It was an awkward encounter to say the least. An awkward phone call, a quick trip to his house, and zoning out right in front of him. Amy calmed herself to look up, then finally noticed the state Shadow was in.

He was littered with marks. His fur was parted in random spots and, from the trashcan nearby along with a first aid kit on the table, something bad had happened and he was bleeding.

"What _happened_ to you?" She gasped, and Shadow lifted his arms in a sort of lazy shrug.

"Eh, I was sent in to stop a knife fight, got stabbed a couple of times, but then one of the gangs that were fighting had a rookie with a gun, who had terrible aim by the way, and I was shot. Everything's fine now." He tried to smile, but it was tired and strained.

Amy pat the couch right next to her. "What? Whg are you saying it like it's just a normal thing? I know you heal fast but come on, you gotta go to a hospital tk get the bullets out at least!" it took some coaxing to make him sit, but when he did, she turned to him and grabbed his hands only to realize he wasn't wearing gloves.

"It... it _is_ a normal thing, Rose. I get hurt almost all the time at GUN because I'm the most... durable. Plus, I've taken the bullets out anyway, don't worry." He shivered, but he shook his head a bit frantically.

The pink hedgehog was pretty upset. From Shadow getting hurt to him thinking it wasn't such a big deal.

"Well, I am going to worry because I care about you and I hate to see people I care about hurt. _Plus_ ," She stressed, and Shadow smirked "You're obviously exhausted. Why aren't you asleep?"

His smirk fell and he tried to pull his hands away, but it didn't work. "I can't... sleep."

"Why?"

"Because I _can't._ " He growled then, raising his voice slightly, but Amy didn't back down.

"Why _can't_ you!?"

"Because I have _insomnia_ , okay!? I need someome to hold me-- I used to have Maria do it, but now she can't and I've _always_ had it and _never got over it!"_ He hissed, eyes narrowing dangerously while he pulled his hands awah from her.

While she hated to get yelled at, it was the only way to have Shadow talk to her. Knowing he would resist at first anyway, Amy grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him down, resting his head on her chest. "That's all?" She whispered.

Shadow stilled, his face starting to burn but he refused to be held. What he _did_ forget was that Amy was still pretty strong, and with him being weak from exhaustion, the agent couldn't put up much of a fight. Eventually, after struggling still, he gave in and shut his eyes.

"...Why are you doing this? I'm not meant to be shown kindness. I'm durable. I'm supposed to be strong."

She only hugged him a bit tighter, so he shifted to get comfortable. "We'll talk about it later. For now, just know that--" her voice died for a second, and Shadow noticed the pause but said nothing. "Just know that you're my friend, and I care about you."

Minutes later, Amy heard such a light rumbling purr that she knew it could only have come from Shadow and Shadow alone.

xox

 _hhey transformation is coming along. the new chap is so long, im so sorry_

 _Also lol do you think Amy's gonna go with her gut and tell Shadow that she loves him or stay friends?_


	11. Hey, uh, How's Work?

_aparently forgot to post this, sorry guys. I so thought I posted this._

To be the ebony hedgehog right now was to life in bliss, sleeping calmly, peacefully on such a warm pillow that he didn't have the urge to switch positions. Even though he didn't have a dream, that was the most restful nap he'd ever taken. As he slowly came to his senses, blinking away the tired grasp of sleep and forcing himself to sit up and stretch, he flinched when he felt his 'pillow' shift around as well.

"Good evening, sleepy-head." Amy giggled, rubbing her eyes and pulling herself up into a more comfortable position. When she didn't hear a response, the pink hedgie paused and looked at him.

Shadow was sitting, frozen in mid stretch with his arms still in the air and his muzzle bright red, the most shocked expression Amy had ever seen plastered on his face. At near lightening speed, his arms shot back down and he looked around. "What--?"

He didn't finish and Amy simply laughed again, fully enjoying Shadow's confusion as he looked on like a lost puppy. "Do you not remember anything that happened? You only slept for about an hour and a half."

"Yeah but--" He looked at her again but his eyes quickly darted over to the wall instead "Why was I _asleep_ _on_ _your chest?_ "

A few seconds was all it took before it dawned on her that it wasn't the most appropriate way to sleep on someone, and why when she called Rouge over for a favour, she could barsly suppress her laughter. Had Shadow fallen asleep on her lap or even stomach, perhaps it could have been called cute. But, still, Shadow sleeping was the most adorable experience the pink hedgie had with him yet.

"Rose?"

"Hm?" She blinked out her trance and Shadow seemed to be nervous.

"Did you not come over because you wanted to speak with me? Any other time anyone requests to speak with me it's never been for a good reason." He sighed, and, judging by how he was now eyeing the table with the discarded bandages that once covered his wounds, Amy had a wild guess that he didn't like to talk one-on-one.

"Oh! Um, I-- I have two things to say! First," The pink hedgehog swiftly raced over to the kitchen while Shadow stared on in confusion. After a handful of seconds, she emerged with two plates, each with a single slice of strawberry cake.

The agent's eyes widened a fraction and he shot out his hands to grab for the plate, barely giving Amy enough time to let it go before his fork was stabbed into the fluffy treat and he was shoving the bite into his mouth.

"I was about to say... that I was concerned when I had Rouge bring it over because you eat so... healthy?"

"Nonsense, this is cake. Cake, muffins-- deserts of any kind are _my_ forté." He spoke proudly, offering a small smile at the end when he heard her giggle. "But what was the second topic?"

That was when the weight settled in. The pink hedgie sat on the couch a bit heavily, smiling though her emotions were in turmoil and hardly chewed a small piece of her cake. Soon, the plate and fork ended up gripped too harshly, and she looked up at the wall.

Shadow didn't decorate much, but what he did have up were random paintings that didnt have much to do with each other. The wallpaper was a nice colour. There were replicas of photos on a decoration stand; some with Maria, some with Gerald, some with Rouge and Omega, and few that were turned face down. She even saw a picture with Tails and Silver up there, too.

"...Rose? I would normally wait for you to speak, but I dont think your fork will last that long." his voice snapped her out of her thoughts to see her poor fork clutched so tightly that it began to bend.

"Sorry... Sorry, I'm--"

 _Just say it, Amy! You can do it! If you don't say it, you'll be mirable and unhappy for the rest of your life!_ She screamed to herself. _Shadow totally wants you!_

"I... uh... wanted to know how stuff at work is going? Like, with Rouge, and... Topaz? Does she work there anymore?" _great job._

Shadow tilted his head, not too certain that was what she meant to say, but shook his head somewhat. "She doesn't. She's been relieved and has been living out the rest of her life as a counselor. Rouge and I visit her from time to time."

"Well... that's nice! I'm glad she found a nice job, and you all are still good friends." She smiled, but it was forced. Though she was still happy about Topaz, that wasn't what she was trying to say. She stabbed her cake and bit down on both it and the fork, ignoring the clink it made when it hit her teeth. This was terrible.

"Rose, is there--?"

"What about Harold? I know you two aren't the best friends-- I mean, I kinda know about you and Son--" She was crumbling.

"Harold and I are rivals, Sonic and I made up. Rose, tell me wh--"

"When did you and Sonic--?"

" _AMY_ _ROSE."_ Shadow stood up, completely forgetting about the cake in his lap. the plate tumbled and flipped over, the ceramic shattering into shards while the slice smashed into the hardwood foor.

Silence filled the room, Shadow not even glancing down to the once wonderful cake that was now a mess on the floor. He only stood his ground and narrowed his eyes, a constant, deep growl keeping Amy rooted to the spot. Her eyes were glued to the cake pile and broken ceramic, vaguely aware that they were only wearing socks, but mostly in a spiralling inner turmoil.

It was a mix of seeing Shadow so angry at her that he lost a little hold of his temper and shouted, and was now growling, too, and also seeing the cake she made herself and worked so hard on was now just a wasted pile of mess that was probably staining the ground. Tears silently formed and slid from her eyes within seconds of looking at Shadow, being so utterly pissed off that it seemed like he was invisioning the many ways to maim her. Amy set her cake on the coffee table with shaking hands, tears falling harder when she heard the plate and wood meet a few times before she let it go with a slightly louder, more annoying clack.

"I--I'll c-clean--" she started to kneel, reaching for a shard of the plate, but her wrist was grabbed.

"You will sit back down on the couch and tell me what you came here to tell me. I know for a fact you did not come here to talk about work, nor my relationship with Sonic, nor Topaz." Her wrist was released and she instinctively looked at it, fearing that he had done what Sonic had done before and bruised it, but that wasn't the case. His hold had been rather gentle, so much so that her fur wasn't even out of place.

"I..." Green eyes met ruby for a few seconds, then split off to stare at the wall. "I don't want to say it anymore, I-I'm afraid..."

The ebony hedgehog seemed to calm down, or at least look like it. He looked at the cake mush sadly, then took a knee and began gathering the shards in his hands. "That's okay, to be afraid I mean." but he sighed right after "But, tell me something sometime, Amy. You're worrying me, and jumping around the subject makes me think you need help."

She only nodded and watched him work, saying nothing and thinking just the same thing. Amy was just frozen in place.

After he left to toss the broken plate and came back to gather the ruined slice, where indeed the dark pink frosting left a small smear in the polished wood, she finally looked up.

"I don't want to ruin our friendship, Shadow." She started, standing on wobbly legs and gently holding out her arms "...So, can I get one last hug before I do anyway?"

"That's concerning." Shadow admitted "But, okay." as he finished, he wrapped his arms around her waist in a tight, geniune hug.

It was the type of hug that would make you cry. The one that's warm and compassionate, not too long, with one had resting on your upper back and the other holding you close to them. And cry was exactly what Amy did.

She had shed a few tears earlier, silently and without really meaning to, but now it was entirely heartfelt. It started to feel like she was probably overeacting, like maybe it was all fake, or maybe...

"I might love you, Shadow."

Shadow tensed up against her but didn't release the hold. "I had a feeling."

Finally, Amy pushed away and attem pted to glare with blurry, wet eyes while wiping the tears away. "What are you talking a-about?"

He winked. "Remember those nights ago, when I brought you over after Sonic hurt your wrist? You said that you loved me way too easily. Then, you contacted Rouge right away when I was down the very next day because you were trying to help me. Then-- You know, I have plenty more examples, but--"

A kiss from the shorter hedgie shut him up, but other than pricking his ears forward while a heavy blush dawned his face, he didn't move. Amy pulled back in fear of rejection just to be met with Shadow turning into a giggling mess and looking away.

"Hey-- Um remember when-- When I told you the only love I've ever experienced was familial and platonic?"

"...I think so...?" Amy said. Seconds ticked on with Shadow now pacing the room and refusing to make eye contact, and even if this was Shadow's form of rejection, it was odd especially for him.

All he was doing was staring at the ground with his hand over his mouth, the other down at his hip and balled into a fist.

Then, "Wait, was that your first kiss?"

A frantic nod was her answer and even she had to laugh. What a reaction! He was a mess!

" _It's late let's go to bed and sleep forever_!" Shadow suddenly announced, sprinting into the hallway and then upstairs without another word.

... Amy dialed up Rouge first, awkwardly picking up her cake to set in the fridge.

"The bat's here and it's late~" She cooed into the phone, and a sloshing sound in the background showed she was in the bathtub.

"I just kissed Shadow."

There was an even louder slosh and then splash, with a cry of shock following. "No way! You did!? How did he react? What did you do? Tell me everything!"

xox

 _slightly shorter because i feel like an animal. this weekend has been terrible._

 _thanks for the indirect shout out, Blind Date. Your story was the exact reason I even started Moving On, bro_


	12. Feelings are Complicated

It had been a week since Amy admitted her feelings for Shadow.

Her job working with Silver was going smoothly. She was paid well and meet all types of customers: some who were buying for themselves, buying for their partners or family, and some shyly walking in and whispering that they had a crush and didn't know what to get them. Of course, there were a few that walked in, walked around, and left that Sally had to grab and drag back in because they stole clippings off their plants, but that didn't happen often.

The workers were sweet as well, with very little drama, as most of it happened outside of work and she never bothered to listen in hard enough nor care. And, every time after work, Amy would stop by Vanilla's house to give Cream a visit, as she found out the gap between Big coming over and Vanilla coming home was about an hour to hour thirty. It gave them some girl time to hang out, talk, play, and even do some of the insane homework she was given.

Knuckles started spending less time huddled up on the island alone, and instead hung out with Sonic and Tails like the good old days. Even sometimes he would call Amy over so they could have some fun. She always accepted with a grin and a laugh.

Sonic was always happy to see her, and so was Tails. They would hug her and spin around in joy when she showed up, each time in a new outfit that she gladly showed off. Sometimes they would all go out together to do something, go to a movie, or twinkle park, or the beach. Or, sometimes, they would simply stay there and play games all day.

She hadn't talked to nor seen Shadow or Rouge since.

She hadn't attempted to, either.

Amy sat on her couch, late at night, or early morning, whichever you saw it as, drinking a cup of warm milk in hopes it would put her to sleep. It was currently 3:03 AM, and with each passing hour, she would turn her television down 5% because it seemed just too loud. Dark bags circled under eyes as she stared at the screen, barely able to hear whatever was on. Nothing interesting, as it was just an infomercial about some type of small cooking blender, but it was currently the only thing on.

Amy had bought countless sleeping aids, none of which worked, and were now all in the medicine cabinet upstairs in her bathroom. So now, she was reverting back to home remedies.

Another twenty minutes passed, the informercial now replaced with a children's cartoon about fish, and she set her mug down on her table and cried.

She was so tired, yet she couldn't sleep. How cruel was that?

A memory ran through her head, and Amy looked over to her phone. The brightness had been turned down from the many lessons she learned from turning on her phone at 1 in the morning just to be temporarily blinded. This was just like Sonic all over again, except opposite. Instead of spending every waking hour chasing after Sonic and attempting to win his love, she spent every waking hour away from Shadow, yearning for love he clearly rejected.

"Even if..." She started, sniffing away the few tears that fell to somewhat make her voice not sound like she had just been crying a couple minutes ago, "Even if we're not together... we can still be friends, right?"

Her thumbs slid over the keys in a simple " _Hi, Shadow_." hesitating just a moment before a tap was heard and the message sent. It appeared on the screen, and she lazily read the time gap between the last time she ever texted Shadow.

Right after, Amy went to close and lock her phone when the three dots appeared right under her message, and then: " _Hello, Rose_."

It was somewhat charming that he didn't drop her nickname, but also heartbreaking at the same time for some reason.

" _I kinda know how you feel when you can't sleep at night. It sucks_."

" _It does._ "

"Two word answers. Alright." The pink hedgehog cut off her phone and set it on the table, flopping over onto the couch with a grunt from the impact.

A 'pop' notification made her grimace at it and turn away from her phone, facing the back of the couch. The TV was too bright, now. She turned it off, but then the room was too dark.

'Pop' came again and with a long groan of wanting to forget everything and go the sleep, she yanked the phone from the table and stared at the texts.

" _I'm sorry."_ and " _I should have said something_." stared back at her, and she didn't know how to react.

The pink hedgehog curled up and replied with " _What?"_ and waited for Shadow to respond.

The three dots appeared and disappeared multiple times, then finally he sent " _I don't know_." and was offline.

So, taking a reasonable approach, Amy called him and waited.

The first call he didn't answer, but from the time they spent together she _knew_ he was near his phone. The fact that it was the middle of the night also stressed this fact.

When he finally answered, he picked up with a sigh instead of 'hello', then "I'll be right there." and hung up.

The words made no sense to her at first so Amy tossed her phone onto the table and tried to snuggle into a pillow, staring at the dark, blank screen for what seemed like hours but were merely seconds. Then, the screen seemed to morph and fade, twisting into itself until it started to look like Shadow was sitting on the table in front of her.

With a tired huff and whispered curse, she mumbled that she was hallucinating now and really needed sleep.

"I didn't know you could curse."

Amy shot up in surprise and looked towards the voice seeing that, Indeed, Shadow was sitting in the table in front of her and that she _wasn't_ losing it. "What-- when-- ugh!" The hedgie cried, and in split second anger, sat up and whipped her pillow straight into Shadow's face.

He clumsily caught it and barely stopped himself from toppling over, then turned back to Amy. "I didn't mean to scare you. I don't know how to talk about how I feel."

"That's pretty obvious," She whispered, unaware Shadow could still hear her, and continued "What did you mean when you said 'I should have said something?'"

Ebony fiddled with the pillow in his lap, scratching the fabric with the tips of his claws and listening to the faint sound it made. His eyes were glue to the floor. "That... should have... told..." his eyes kept looking anywhere but at her, rocking side to side as he struggled to come up with the next word.

Eventually he gave up and mumbled that he didn't know, and Amy took the benefit of the doubt. Seems like she had to back to the elementary ways of asking, also reminding her that Shadow didn't have much of a childhood and possibly didn't even _understan_ _d_ how he felt, if anything.

"Do you... like me?" She asked cautiously, and, almost as if he was offended her, he stared at her incrediously and nodded.

"Of course I do! I always have, Rose." he set his hand on his chest "Pretty much since we met on the ARK, I've always liked you. Remember, had you not have said anything to me, none of our friends would even be alive. I still have yet to properly thank you for that..."

"Oh, well," the sudden outburst caught her by surprise, but it was welcomed. "No problem? You were just confused and sad, no need to thank me."

A change in atmosphere made her look away, noticing Shadow taking on a different approach and leaning closer. He looked... odd. He was glaring as if he was upset, yet from how long she's known him, he wasn't.

"I don't think I can say it yet, Amy." and, with that, he kissed her.

It wasn't very long, and was pretty ok of a kiss for only being his second one, before reality set in and Shadow sprung back to growl at himself. "Sorry, I--"

Amy yanked him back down to continue it, peppering his face with light butterfly kisses and ignoring his squealing of both embarassment and surprise. The noises soon stopped and turned to a hum of comfort, prying Amy off of him to wipe away the tears that formed. He didn't even need to ask why, as he got the general idea of why. Shadow sat on the couch next to her and hugged the sniffling hedgie to his chest, blushing softly at her snuggling into his chest fur.

Storming off like that after she confessed her love was a pretty terrible move. He should have stayed and told her he had feelings too, it was just that he didn't know what they were. It felt like Maria was back and with him again, but... different, and stronger. He wanted to be around her a lot. He liked her company. He liked her voice, her scent, her eyes, her fur, her bubbly personality and how happy she made him feel. He just... wanted her to be around a lot more.

And saying that was impossible, but if she knew, it would make everything a lot better.

It took a while for him to notice that she was asleep, breathing so quietly, so gently, but her body was so warm and comforting on top of him. Shadow chuckled inwardly and laid his head on her quills, pretty glad and sad with himself at the same time, and slept.

xox

 _one more chapter and this story will be over. thank you for sticking around_


	13. Come to the Party

"I'm not really too sure about this anymore." Amy whispered quickly, glancing up at Rouges' house before looking back down at her shoes.

"It's been two months, Rose, and for a week straight you were convincing me to tell them and you try to back out now?" Shadow chuckled and hugged an arm around her, leaning over to kiss her cheek "Come on, nothing bad will happen. I'm not even entirely sure Rouge hasn't let it spill yet."

Amy blushed at the kiss and turned her head to nuzzle his cheek, still weighing her options. If they stayed outside long enough, Rouge would probably tell them anyway and the secret would be spoiled. If they left flat out, it would be months before anyone was told and they would have to keep it secret for longer. But, if they went in... Nothing too bad would happen, honestly. Maybe someone would get upset, but that's it...?

"Alright, I'm ready!" She stood up straight and pumped her fist excitedly while Shadow chuckled.

"There's my Rose." he showed a small smile before opening the door, being greeted by Rouge squealing 'Finally!' and literally yanking him inside.

"The lovebirds are in!" She called, lifting up Shadow and dropping him right next to Omega.

Still getting used to how strong the bat actually was, Amy followed in right behind them and swallowed thickly at seeing everyone gathered. That and how big Rouge's house was. Not as big as Shadow's, but it was up there.

Tables were set up with tons of food on them, along with drinks and cupcakes, and pink and black balloons, which Rouge probably did specifically, floated on the ceiling. The lights were on but there were also other hanging lights not currently on.

She slowly closed the door behind her and Tails noticed the sound right away, jumping up and running towards her for a massive hug.

"Amy! It took you long enough, Blaze almost ate _all_ the snacks!" He giggled and pointed to said cat, currently hiding something behind her back while vigorously wiping crumbs from her mouth.

The Chaotix was there as well, much to everyone's wild confusion as they weren't sure who invited them, but that was fine. Since Cream was there, it was most likely Vanilla that sent them with her.

Sonic and Knuckles attempted to greet her the same way, but accidentally did so at the same time and only ended up butting heads. Silver was unlucky enough to start laughing at them and caught the bad end of the echidna's temper.

As the two began to bicker, Sonic walked over to her for a normal hug. "Hey Ames, how's it going?" he seemed a bit down, or sad.

"Actually I'm extremely nervous! Thanks for asking." She grinned but didn't feel all too happy "What about you? You look so sad."

Sonic only shrugged a shoulder at first, not having much to say. Blaze attempted to stop the fight but all she ended up doing was losing her temper too and started flat out arguing with Knuckles, taking Silver's place.

"Just kinda... Wondering why you're away much more than before. I was getting used to you being... normal, I guess, but now I barely even see you normally. It took weeks for you to show up, and when you did, you were busy doing something. Sorry, I know that's kinda selfish, but I kinda wanna hang out with my friends..." He laughed but it was nervous and odd. Amy sighed.

"You don't know the half of it, Sonic."

"Calm down already!" Shadow yelled, stopping the argument immediately. He crossed his arms as soon as the silence settled in. "This is supposed to be a good party that Rouge took the time to prepare for us, now shut up and enjoy it."

His word choice brought up questions. "Us...?" Silver whispered, then, realization settled in and he broke out in a happy grin "Oh my chaos!! You did!! I'm so proud of you, Amy!" He pulled her towards him with his telekinesis and hugged the startled hedgie, much to everyone else's confusion.

"What... did she do?" Sonic was next, looking to Knuckles and Tails in case they got it and he was missing something.

"Look around you, it's a bit obvious." Espio smirked and looked to Shadow "Never thought you had it in you, by the way."

The agent smirked "My cold dead heart still has some warmth in it, chameleon."

So, everyone still lost looked around. The table cloths were white with tiny red hearts on them. The pink and black balloons. The fact that Rouge flat out called them _Lovebirds_ as soon as she drug/carried Shadow in!

"YOU'RE DATING SHADOW!?" Knuckles nearly shouted, causing an uproar of emotion. Amy was tackled in hugs and laughter while Shadow got constant pats on the back he received proudly, chin held high before he shook them off and boldly let himself laugh.

"It took them _So_ long you guys! It's been two months!" Rouge announced and picked up a glass, which Amy and Shadow knew was apple juice and not what she wanted everyone else to think, "Cheers to the lovebirds!"

The party commenced. Cream was seen being one of the few people actually being able to hug Shadow, and he returned it quite happily. Amy smiled, feeling her tail start to wag. It all went so nicely...!

A tap to her shoulder made her turn just to bump into Sonic. "A-ah, sorry!"

He hugged her tightly "You were hiding because of Shadow!? We all thought you didn't want to be friends anymore and I thought it was because of all the mean crap I said and I'm so sorry and I'm so happy for you and-- and--!" Sonic sobbed openly in her dress, the same one she bought so long ago yet never wore until today.

"O...oh, Sonic...! I never-- I just..." Amy gasped when Shadow shook Sonic's shoulder.

The blue hedgehog lifted his head, quickly realizing who it was and yanking his hands off Amy like he touched acid. "H-hey Shadow! Uh, still no-- no, um, hard feelings, right?" He held up a hand for Shadow to shake.

He stared at him for a second before clapping their hands together and pulling Sonic forward, bumping their shoulders and patting him on the back. "No hard feelings, but don't ever talk about this." he huffed, then turned and walked away.

Amy was a bit concerned and turned to see Sonic's expression, hoping he was alright, then folding back her ears at the wide-eyed stare he gave with his mouth hanging open. "...Sonic?"

"He freaking _hugged_ me Amy!! I mean it wasn't an official hug-- but still!! He!! Did it!!" Sonic bounced off to do the exact opposite Shadow said to everyone else at the party.

Tails gushed to her about how excited he was and how much he wanted to learn about Shadow and Knuckles joined in right away to find out if he wanted to be on Team Sonic so they could all be friends. When told to just ask him about that, the echidna became bashful and mumbled that he was a bit afraid to. Tails dragged him to the hedgehog and Amy watched as they spoke back and forth for a while.

Charmy and Espio found her next, offering her some strawberry lemonade and pushing her towards the snack table, she wmshe happily stuffed herself with sweets and watched Rouge to the same.

"I'm gonna be the fattest bat in existence." She laughed, but Amy shook her head.

"Not on my watch, we still have dresses to buy!" That caused Rouge to laugh once again, stopping only long enough to finish off her apple juice and end up getting bumped into by Sonic who bursted at her that he and Shadow hugged.

Minutes afterwards, Cream gave Amy a present of a bracelet that had half a heart symbol on it, where Shadow had the matching set to it, whispering that she knew the entire time and was waiting for them to admit it first. Right away Amy found Shadow and giggled for a minute straight, pressing the heart pieces together while he tried his hardest to have a normal conversation with Blaze.

With the music playing it was already a bit hard to focus, but Amy quietly giggling at his hip it was really making it difficult. Blaze was trying her damndest to ignore her too but it soon became too much and she playfully swatted at her.

"Hey Blaze!" She interrupted instead, and the two shook their heads as the conversation was dropped until later.

"Hi Amy! How's life with Tall and Broody?"

"Did Rouge teach you that?" He growled but she purred a "maybe" and he knew exactly what he was going to do next and stormed off.

"Amazing, actually! He's a sap for romance, but he also _really_ likes adventure and stuff! He can switch from quiet and mistiful to sudden in a heartbeat! Not to mention he's _really_ cute, too." She smiled and swung her arms, abruptly leaning close to whisper "How's it going between you and Silver?"

Blaze burned red "H-how do you know that!?" She stuttered, tail lashing helplessly behind her "We just started last month!"

"You just told me!" Amy giggled once again but only had Rouge to thank for that little trick, gleefully hiding behind Silver when Blaze ran at her, hands ablaze.

When they calmed down a bit, she joined in on Charmy, Tails, and Cream dancing (a bit terribly) to the music and joined in. She swung her arms and moved her hips and stomped her feet, not entirely off beat but was better than the rest for sure.

Vector then scooped her up in his arms and raised her to the ceiling where, since she had the chance, she grabbed a black balloon as Vector demanded for games. He heartily chanted that she would be used a sacrifice as Rouge and Espio pulled out the many games the bat _did_ actually have.

Shadow didn't think the joke was too funny, as Amy started to grow nervous at the height and feared what would become of her dress if dropped from such a height. So, without much thought, he jumped up and plucked her from the croc's grasp.

Amy smiled and let go of the balloon to hug the person it represented, humming in content as he tilted her head up to kiss him. Right away, she heard three 'ew!'s and a couple 'aww's before she realized she was around her friends. Then, another thing came to mind as Shadow pulled away from her and covered his blushing face; he still wasn't quite there when it came to actually kisses yet.

Espio hounded him right away, but it was all in good fun. Once Amy saw the twister mat hit the floor, though, all bets were off and she knew this would be a pretty interesting night.

xox

 _The last chapter. I love you all, thank you so much for sticking around._

 _(also this cannot be properly edited right now, so sorry)_


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